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Central  University  Library 

university  of  California,  San  Diego 
Please  Note:  This  item  is  subject  to  recall 
after  two  weeKs. 


Date  Due 

. 

*  t  ■     > 

_ilAU-lU336- - 

CI  39  (1/90) 

UCSD  Ub. 

HISTOKY    OF   KOME 


AITD 


THE   ROMA^   PEOPLE. 


H  ISTOIBE    DES    RoM«  INS 


L;brairie:  Hachette  &  c 


LEGIONNAIRE     ROMAIN 
I'estauralion  pur   M.   liailliDldi,  an   Miisee  ilc  .Saint-di-niiaiii. 


History  of  Rome, 

AND  OF  THE  ROMAN  PEOPLE, 

FROM     ITS     ORIGIN     TO     THIi     INVASION     OF     THE 

BARBARIANS. 


By   victor    DURUY, 

MEMBER    OF    THE    INSTITUTE,    EX-MINISTER    OF    PUBLIC    INSTRUCTION,    ETC. 


TRANSLATED  BY  M.  M.  RIPLEY  AND    IV.  J.  CLARKE. 


EDITED     BY 


THE    REV.    J.    P.    MAHAFFY, 

PROFESSOR  OF   ANCIENT    HISTORY,  TRINITY   COLLEGE,    DUBLIN. 


CDntaining  obfr  Z\\xn  STijousaiiLi  Engra^jinss,  Cue  Itiuiitirrti  fBiaps  anS  }|3taw, 
AND    NUMEROUS    CHROMO-LITHOGRAPHS. 


Volume  I. 


PUBLISHED    BY 

C.   F.   JEWETT   PUBLISHING   COMPANY, 

BOSTON. 


Copyright,   188S, 
By    Estes    and    Lauriat. 


EDITOE'S    PREFACE. 


IT  is  the  duty  of  those  who  offer  to  the  iniblic  so  large  a  work 
on  a  subject  already  treated  in  English  books,  to  justify  its 
position  and  explain  the  principles  followed  in  translating  and 
editing  it.  Strange  to  say,  though  some  of  the  greatest  English 
liistorians  have  devoted  themselves  to  Roman  history,  there  does 
not  exist  any  standard  English  work  on  the  whole  subject.  Por- 
tions of  it  have  been  thoroughly  handled,  but  a  complete  survey 
is  not  to  be  found  except  in  little  handbooks ;  so  that  the  English- 
man or  American  who  wants  as  a  work  of  reference  for  his 
library  a  history  of  Rome  down  to  the  close  of  its  pagan  days, 
has  hitherto  been  unable  to  find  it.  Even  if  he  can  read  French 
and  German,  he  will  encounter  the  same  difficulty ;  nor  is  it  in 
any  way  satisfactory  to  supply  the  want  by  two  or  three  special 
histories.  No  doubt  the  English  edition  of  Mommsen's  History,  the 
large  work  of  Merivale,  and  the  incomparable  Gibbon  cover  the 
ground,  but  they  cover  it  writing  from  widely  different  stand- 
points, in  various  styles,  and  without  any  general  index  which  could 
enable  the  ordinary  reader  to  find  any  fact  required.  Moreover? 
the  very  original  and  suggestive  work  of  Mommsen  on  the  early 
history  of  Rome  is  totally  unsuited  for  ordinary  readers  and  for 
ordinary  reference,  inasmuch  as  he  treats  with  silent  contempt 
most  of  the  popular  stories,  and  re-arranges  the  remnants  of  tra- 
dition according  to  new  and  peculiar  principles  of  his  own.  To 
a  public  ignorant  of  his  special  researches,  —  his  RomiscTie  Forsch- 
uncjen  and  RomiscJies  Staatsrecht,  —  the  History,  published  with- 
out references  or  explanations,  must   be    often  quite   unintelligible. 


6  EDITOE'S  PEEFACE. 

The  account  of  the  early  reforms  in  the  Constitution,  and  of  the 
relations  of  the  Three  Assemblies,  are  so  totally  opposed  to  the 
accounts  in  ordinary  English  histories,  that  the  thoughtful  reader 
is  completely  at  a  loss  to  find  out  when  all  these  novelties  were 
discovered,  or  how  they  are  to  be  justified.  An  edition  of  this 
fine  book,  with  some  such  information  in  foot-notes,  would  have 
made  it  a  work  of  far  greater  value  ;  for  it  represents  a  school 
of  thought  which  is  as  yet  quite  foreign  to  England,  and  which, 
under  the  able  expositions  of  Ruliino,  Mommsen,  Soltau,  and  others, 
bids  fair  to  displace  the  views  of  Niebuhr,  even  when  corrected 
and  modified  by  Schwegler,  Lange,  and  Clason.^  But  as  yet  these 
matters  are  within  the  field  of  controversy ;  and  to  assume  all 
his  own  views  as  proved  may  indeed  be  admitted  as  lawful  in 
the  historian,  but  cannot  ))e  regarded  as  satisfactory  in  a  work 
professing  to  give  all  the  facts  of  Roman  history. 

The  bi'oad  difference  between  the  older  school  of  Niebuhr  and 
that  of  Mommsen  is  this :  that  while  Niebuhr  sifts  tradition,  and 
tries  to  infer  from  it  Avhat  are  the  real  facts  of  early  Roman 
history,  Mommsen  only  uses  tradition  to  corroborate  the  inferences 
drawn  concerning  early  Roman  history  from  an  analysis  of  the 
traditional  facts  and  usages  still  surviving  in  historical  days,  and 
explained  as  survivals  l\v  critical  Roman  historians.  Thus,  tlie 
iisages  in  appointing  a  dictator  or  consul  lead  him  to  infer^that  of 
old  the  kings  were  apj^ointed  in  like  manner,  these  magistrates 
having  taken  the  place  of  the  king.  Such  researches  are  naturally 
only  of  value  in  reconstructing  early  constitutional  history. 

The  work  of  Duruy  does  not  adopt  this  method,  and  stands 
on  the  ground  of  Niebuhr,  or  rather  of  Schwegler,  whose  valuable 
History,  like  that  of  our  own  Thirlwall,  is  regaining  its  real 
position  after  some  years  of  obscuration  by  a  more  brilliant,  but 
not  impartial,  rival.  Indeed,  the  newer  critical  school  in  Ger- 
many cannot  yet,  and  perhaps  never  will,  furnish  a  real  history 
of  early  Rome,  such  as  Niebuhr's,  Ihne's,  Schwegler's,  or  the  pres- 
ent, but  only  acute  and  often  convincing  essays  on  the  Constitution. 
It  was  beyond  my  duty  to  introduce    these  newer   views   by  way 

*  The  first  glimpse  of  these  new  lights  in  English  is  to  be  found  in  l\Ir.  Seeloy's  Intro- 
duction to  his  edition  of  Livij ;  Ihne's  Essay  on  the  Roman  ConslUution  and  his  Ilislortj 
are  original  and  independent  labors  on  the  general  lines  of  Niebuhr. 


EDITOR'S    I'REFACE.  7 

of  foot-notes,    even    though   often  convinced    of    their    truth;    for   I 
undertook  to  edit  Diu'uy's  great  work,  and  not  to  supply  anything 
more.      Accordingly    I    have    confined    myself    here    and    there    to 
mentioning  a  fact  or  suggesting  a  different  view    of   some   event, 
hut  have  avoided  stating  any  conflicting  tlieory.     Additional  books 
of   reference,   however,   and    these    principally  of    the    newer  school 
above   described,  have  been  sometimes  cited,  and  a  great  deal   has 
been    done    to  improve   another  capital   feature  of    the    book,  — ^  the 
illustrations.     In  this  respect  Duruy's  book  stands  alone,  giving  the 
reader  all  kinds  of  illustration  and  of  local  color,  so  as  to  let  him 
read  the  history  of  Rome,  as  far  as  possible,  in  Italy,  and  among  the 
remains   of   that    history,  with    all    the    lights    which    archceoloo-ical 
research   can  now  afford  us.     In    many   places    I    have    left    out    a 
cut   which    seemed    of    little    authority,    and    supplied    from    photo- 
graphs (collected  in  Italy  and  Sicily)  better  and  truer  pictures.     T 
have  had  recourse  to  contemporary  art,  and  given   some  ideal  pic- 
tures  of   great    events    in    Roman    history,   as    imagined    by    artists 
learned    in    the    local    color   and    the    dress    of    the    period.      Here 
and  there  I  have  also  ventured  to  curtail  the  descriptions  of  battles, 
which  are  borrowed  from  the  ancient  historians,  as  they  were  com- 
posed from  purely  rhetorical   considerations,  and  have  no   claim   to 
accuracy.     Enough,  and  more  than  enough,  has  been   left   to   show 
the  views  of  these   patriotic  historians.     It  is  a  perpetual   cause   of 
offence  and  annoyance  in  the  extant  classical  historians,  that  instead 
of  giving  us  some  intelligil^le  account  of  military  movements,  they 
supply  us  with  the  most  \mlgar  and  often  absurd  platitudes  con- 
cerning tactics,  and  with  the  invented  harangues  of  the  respective 
leaders. 

I  will  add,  in  conclusion,  that  the  publishers  have  met  all  my 
demands  and  requirements  with  the  largest  liberality.  So  far  as 
they  are  concerned,  everythmg  has  been  done  to  make  the  book 
the  best  and  the  most  complete  which  has  yet  appeared  on  Roman 
history. 


Trinity  College,  Dublin. 


TABLE     OF   CONTENTS. 


VOLUME    I. 


INTRODUCTION. 

THE    PEE-aOMAN    EPOCU. 


PACE 


I.  Geography  of  Italy 17 

II.  Ancient  Population  of  Italy  —  Pelasgians  and  Uinbrians 44 

III.  Etruscans 60 

IV.  Oscaus  and  Sabelliaus 88 

v.  Greeks  and  Gauls 106 

VI.  Political  Organization  of  the  Ancient  Nations  of  Italy  .         .         .         .         .         .  116 

VII.  Religious  Organization 122 

VIII.  Summary 132 


FIRST   PEEIOD. 

KOME   UNDER   THE    KINGS    (753-510    B.C.).    FORMATION   OF    THE    ROMAN    PEOPLE. 


CHAPTER  I. 


TRADITIONAL    HISTORY    OF   THE    KINGS. 


I.   Romulus  (753-716) 137 

II.    Numa  (715-673) 116 

III.  TuUus  Hostilius  (673-640) 150 

IV.  Ancus  Marcius  (640-616)  .         .         .         .       - ,.  156 

V.   Tarquin  tlie  Elder  (616-578) .157 

VI.    Servius  Tullius  (578-531.)   .         . 161 

VII.    Tarquinius  Superbus  (534-510) .166 

CHAPTER  n. 

CONSTITTJTION   OF    ROME   DURING   THE    REGAl   PERIOD. PRIMITIVE    ORGANIZATION. 

I.    Sources  of  Roman  History 181 

II.   Probable  Origin  of  Rome 185 

III.    Patricians  aud  Clients      .         .         .         .         ' ISO 

IV.    Senate  and  King ;  Plebeians 194 


10  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  III. 

RELIGION    AND    RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS. 

FAGB 

I.   The  Public  Gods 199 

11.   The  Domestic  Gods 206 

III.  The  Manes 210 

IV.  Naturalism  of  the  Roman  Religion  and  Formal  Devotion 21C        o 

V.    Sacerdotal  Colleges 222 

VI.    Public  Festivals 232 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CHANGES    IN   RELIGION    AND    CONSTITUTION    UNDEE   THE   THREE    LAST   KINGS. 

I.   The  Gods  of  Etruria  at  Rome ;  Reforms  of  Tarquin  the  Elder 235 

II.   Reforms  of  Servius  Tullius 239 

III.   Tarquiu  the  Proud ;  Power  of  Rome  at  this  Epoch 250 

CHAPTER  V. 

MANNERS    AND    CUSTOMS. 

I.    Character  of  Ancient  Roman  Society 255 

II.    Private  Manners ,.         .         .         .  260 

III.   Public  Manners 267 


SECOND  PERIOD. 

ROME  UNDER  THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS    (509-367  B.  c).  —  STRUGGLES   WITHIN  — 

WEAKNESS   WITHOUT. 

CHAPTER  Vl. 

INTERNAL    HISTORY    FROM    509    TO    470  B.  C. 

I.  Aristocratic  Character  of  the  Revolution  of  509 ;  the  Consulship  ....  272 

II.  The  Tribunate 279 

III.  The  Agrarian  L.  »     .  .  ...  288 

IV.  Right  of  the  Tnounes  to  accuse  the  Consuls  and  to  bring  forward  Plebiscita    .        .  294- 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MILITARY  HISTORY   OF   ROME   FROM    THE   DEATH    OF   TARQUIN  TO   THE  DECEMVIRS    (495-451  B.  c). 

I.    The  Roman  Territory  in  495;  Porsonna  and  Cassius 299' 

II.    Coriolanus  and  the  Volscians  ;  Cincinnatus  and  the  Aequians 308 

III.   "War  against  Veii 315- 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS.  11 


CHAPTER  Vin. 


THE   DECEMVIKS   AND    CIVIL   EQUALITY    (iDl-iig  B.  c). 


PAGE 


I.   Bill  of  Terentilins 319 

II.   The  Decemvirs  (451-449) 327 

III.   The  Twelve  Tables 331 


CHAPTER  IX. 

EFFORTS    TO    OBTAIN    POLITICAL    EQUALITY    (449-400  B.  C). 

I.    Re-establisbiuent  of  the  Tribunate  and  Consulate 341 

II.   New  Coustitution  of  the  Year  444        .         .  344 

III.    Struggle  for  the  Execution  of  the  New  Constitution 348 


CHAPTER  X. 

MILITARY  HISTORY  FROM  448  TO  389  B.  C. 

I.    Conquest  of  Anxur  or  Terracina  (406) 353 

II.    Capture  of  Veii  (395) 35G 

III.   Capture  of  Rome  by  the  Gauls  (390) 362 


CHAPTER  XL 

MILITARY    HISTORY   FROM    389    TO    343  B.C. 

I.    Rebuilding  of  the  City ;  the  Roman  Legion 369 

II.    Return  of  the  Gauls  into  Latium  ;  ilaulius ;  Valerius  Corvus        ....  373 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ACCESSION    OF    THE    PLEBEIANS    TO    CURULE    OFFICES. 

I.   The  Licinian  Laws :  Division  of  the  Consulships       .......       380 

11.   The  Plebeians  gain  Admission  to  all  Offices 384 


CHAPTER  Xm. 

THE    AGRARIAN    LAW   AND   THE    ABOLITION    OP   DEBT. 

I.   Agrarian  Law  of  LicLnius  Stolo 398 

II.   Laws  on  Debt 403 

III.   The  Aerarii ;  Censorship  of  Appius  (312) 406 


12  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

THIRD  PERIOD. 

WAR   OF   ITALIAN   INDEPENDENCE,  OR  CONQUEST  OF  ITALY   (343-265  B.  C). 

CIIAPTEll  XIV. 

WAR    WITH    THE    S.\MNITES    AND    LATIN.?    (343-312  B.  C). 


PAQB 


I.   First  Samnite  War;  Acquisition  of  Capua  (313-341) 412 

II.   Tlie  Latin  War  (340-338) 417 

III.    Second  Samniu,  vVai  (326-312) ,425 


CHAPTER  XV. 

COALITION    OF    THE    SAMNITES,    ETRUSCANS,    AND   SENONES    (311-280  B.  c). 

I.   Tliird  Samnite  War  (311-303) 438 

II.   Second  Coalition  of  Samnites,  Etruscans,  Umbrians,  and  Gauls  (300-290)     .         .  445 

III.    Coalition  of  the  Etruscans,  and  Senones  ;  War  against  the  Lucanians  (283-281)         .       456 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

■WAR   WITH    PYRRHUS    (280-272  B.  c). 

I.   Rupture  with  Tareutum  ;  First  Campaign  of  Pyrrhus  in  Italy  (282-278)  ...       460 
II    Pyri-hus  in  Sicily ;  Capture  of  Tareutum  (272) 470 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

OBGANIZATION    OF    ITALY    BY   THE    ROMANS. 

I.  The  Freedom  of  the  City,  and  the  Thirty-Five  Tribes 476 

II.  Municipia,  Prefectures,  and  Allied  Towns  .......  483 

III.  Colonies  and  Mililary  Roads 488 

TV.  Religious  Supremacy  ;  Rome  governs,  and  does  not  administer     ....  497 

CH.\PTER  XVIII. 

INTERNAL   STATE    OF   ROME    DURING   THE    SAMNITE    WAR. 

I.  Manners 500 

II.  The  Constitution ;  Balance  of  Forces 502 

III.  Mihtary  Organization 509 

IV.  Recapitulation 523 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS.  18 

FOURTH   PERIOD. 

THE   PUNIC   WARS   (264-201  B.  C). 
CHAPTER  XIX. 

CAKTHAGE. 

PAGE 

I.    Commercial  Empire  of  the  Punic  Race 525 

II.   Carthaginians  and  Libj-Phoenicians ;  Commercial  Policy  of  Carthagb     .  .  533 

III.  Mercenaries 538 

IV.  The  Constitution 541 

CHAPTER  XX. 

THE    FIKST    PUNIC    WAR    (264-241  B.  C). 

I.  The  Treaties  between  Rome  and  Carthage  (509-279) 549 

II.  Operations  in  Sicily  (264)  ..........  552 

III.  Maritime  Operations ;  Lauding  of  the  Romans  in  Africa  (260-255)  .         .         .       560 

IV.  The  War  is  carried  back  into  Sicily  (254-241) 568 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

CONQUESTS   OF   ROME   AND    CARTHAGE    BETWEEN    THE    TWO    PUNIC    WARS    (240-219  B.  c). 

I.    Roman  Expeditions  outside  of  Italy  and  into  Gallia  Cisalpina  .         .         .         .       581 

II.  Carthage  ;  Wars  of  the  Mercenaries ;  Conquest  of  Spain 603 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

rUTERKAL   STATE   OF   ROME    IN    THE    INTERVAL   BETWEEN    THE    TWO    PUNIC    WARS. 

I.    Commencement  of  Roman  Literature  ;  Popular  Games  and  Festivals  .         .         .     612 

II.    Changes  in  Manners,  Religion,  and  Constitution     .......  625 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  SECOND   PUNIC   WAR   UP   TO   THE    BATTLE    OF    CANNAE    (218-216  B.  c). 

I.  Hannibal  in  Spain 648 

II.  Hannibal  in  Gaul  •  Crossing  of  the  Alps 660 

III.  Hannibal  in  Cisalpine  Gaul;  Battle  of  Ticinus;  Battle  of  Trebia  (218)         .         .         .665 

IV.  Thrasimcne  (217)  ;   and  Cannae  (216) 669 


LIST    OF    FULL-PAGE    ENGRAVINGS.^ 


VOLUME     I. 


Antium,  View  of       ...        . 
Appiaii  Way,  the  .... 
Ardea,  Remains  found  al  . 
Aventine,  the  (present  state) 
Baal-Hainmon,  Temple  of  (ruins) 
Cannae,  Battle-field  of   . 
Castel  d'  Asso,  Valley  of    . 
Cenis,  Mont  .... 

Chastity,  Temple  of  (restoration) 
Circello,  !Monte 

Cloaca  Maxima  .... 

Coins,  bronze,  table  of  . 
Concord,  Temple  of  (restoration) 
Courage        "       "  '■  ,     . 

Ercte,  Mount 

Fortune,  Temple  of  (restoration)    . 
Geese  of  the  Capitol  .... 
Girgenti,  Temple  at  (remains) 
Human  Sacrifices       .... 
Jupiter  Stator,  Temple  of  (restoration) 
Liris,  Fall  of  the        .  '      . 
Metapontum,  Harbor  of         .         .         . 
Naples  and  Mount  Vesuvius 
Nemi,  Lake  ..... 
Norba,  Walls  of         ...         . 
Nymphaeum  of  Egeria  .... 
Ravenna,  Canals  and  Pine  Forest  of  . 
Roman  Campagua  .... 

Romulus,  Wall  of  (remains) 

Rosa,  Monte 

Spoleto,  View  of        .  .         . 

Sybaris,  Plain  of   . 

Terni,  Cascade  of       ...         ■ 

Terracina,  Rook  of 

Tiberina,  the  Insula  .... 

Tivoli,  Temple  at 

Tomb,  called  that  of  Aruns 

"      Etruscan     ..... 
"      of  the  Horatii 
Valley  of  Tombs  near  Norcliia  (restoration) 
Veii,  City  of  (restoration) 

"     Vases  found  at       ...         . 
Viso,  Monte 


1  Fachig  the  pages  indicated. 


ALPHABETICAL     INDEX 


TEXT   ILLUSTRATIONS,   INCLUDING   MAPS  AND   PLANS. 


VOLUME    I. 

PAGE 

PAGE 

Acaruauia,  coin  of       .        .        . 

.     592 

Antoninus  Pius,  coin  of 

17 

Adoratiou  before  a  tomb     . 

211 

ti                   a            ti        t< 

340 

"          gesture  of       .         .         . 

.     213 

Apollo,  the  Pythian    . 

36] 

Adria,  as  libralis  of     . 

29 

"       priest  of     . 

.     636 

Aediles,  plebeian  (coin)  . 

.      298 

Apollonia,  coin  of        .         .        . 

591 

Aeneas  carrying  Auchises   . 

L'59 

Appian  Gate  (restoration) 

.     494 

"              (coin)  .... 

.     140 

"      Way 

408 

Aesculapius      "          .... 

(537 

Aquinum,  coin  of             .         •         . 

.     492 

Aeserjiia,  coin  of    . 

.     492 

Arcliigallus,  an   . 

640 

Agatliocles  "    "         .... 

555 

Ar//i'»./arii      ..... 

.     630 

Ager  Romauus  (map)     . 

.     302 

t( 

633 

Agrigentum,  coin  of    . 

557 

Ariminum,  «s  of      . 

.     373 

"              *'"... 

.     559 

Arretium,  earthenware  of   . 

446 

"           (plan)      .         .         .         . 

55  S 

Arvalis,  Erater        .... 

.     225 

Alatri,  wall  of          .... 

.       91 

As  in  rude  metal  (actual  size)     . 

24S 

Alba,  extinct  volcanoes  about  (map)   . 

39 

"    double,  of  Gamers     . 

-       77 

Alba  Fucentia  (plan) 

.     447 

"  lilinilis  of  Adria      .         .         .         . 

29 

Alba  Longa,  coin  of    . 

S9 

"        "       "   Ariminum  . 

.     373 

Alexander  I.,  King  of  Epirus,  coin  of 

.     425 

■'       "       "  Tuder      . 

57 

Alexander  II.     "     "        "      (gem)    . 

470 

Astarte 

.     565 

Alphabets : 

Atcllanc  figures           .         .         .         . 

621 

Early  Roman  (Latin) 

.      182 

4tlilcte,  victorious 

.     624 

Etruscan 

63 

Augur 

237 

of  Central  Italy 

.       CI 

Augurinus,  coin  of           ... 

.     349 

of  Northern  Italy 

113 

Aulus  Postumius  (coin) 

179 

Alps  and  Apennines,  limit  of  the  (ina|i) 

39 

Auruuca,  wall  of     . 

.       96 

Alsium,  tumuli  at            ... 

.     493 

Aventinc,  wall  of  the 

323 

Altar  (tomb  at  Pompeii)     . 

287 

"      (domestic)    .... 

.     206 

Beak-head  of  a  ship  (coin) 

.     561 

Aiicilia,  or  Shields  of  Mars  (coin) 

149 

Bellona  (priest  of )     .         . 

419 

"     (gem)    . 

.     224 

Beneventum,  coin  of        .        .        . 

.     471 

Ancona,  coin  of 

110 

Black  stone,  the  (coin) 

639 

Ancus  Martius,  traditional  portrait  of 

.     157 

Boii,  coin  of  the      .... 

.     594 

Anna  Perenna  (coin) 

284 

Bronze  arms 

/i 

Antigonus  Gonatas,  coin  of     . 

.     472 

"        "     and  tools 

69 

Antistia,  gens,             "     "  . 

168 

"      candelabra       .         .         .         . 

363 

20 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX  TO   TEXT   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Bronze  jewels     . 

"      vases     . 

"      vessels 
Bnmdusiuni,  coin  of  . 
Brutus  (bust  ill  the  Capitol) 
Brutus,  L.  Junius  (coin)    . 

Bulla 

"   young  man  wearing  the 
Buxentum,  coin  of 

Cabeiri      .... 


Cadiz,  coin  of     . 

Caeles  Vibenna  and  Mastarna 

Caere,  vase  of    . 

Cales,  coin  of 

Camarina,  coin  of 

"  "     "     (early  period) 

Gamers,  double  as  o(  . 
Camillus         .... 
Carapagna,  Roman,  cattle  of  the 

"  ■'      flint  "Weapons  found 

Cannae,  ruins  of 
Capitoline  Hill  (restoration) 
Capua,  coin  of    . 
Carthage,  aqueducts  of  , 

"         cisterns        " 

"         coin  of 


"    "    (sold) 
(plan)      . 
"        ports  of 
Carthaginian  art,  remains  of 
"  ex-volo     . 

"  warrior 

Castor,  temple  of 
Caudine  Forks,  valley  of  the 
Ccphaloedium,  coin  of 
Ceres     .... 

"     (found  at  Ostia  in  1856) 
Chariot-races,  genii  of     . 
Chastity,  altar  of  (coin) 
Chickens,  the  Sacred 
Cliimaera   .... 
Cinerary  Urns 
Circe,  Ulysses,  and  Elpenor 
Circeii,  wall  of 
Civic  crown  (coin) 

"         "     with  laurel-leaves  (coin) 
Claudia  dragging  the  vessel  of  Cybele 
Cloaca  Maxima  .... 
Clusium,  black  vases  of 


70 

72 

71 

84 

493 

174 

277 

209 

209 

33 

51 
52 
531 
240 
165 
423 
461 
545 
77 
231 
40 
42 
683 
251 
103 
528 
529 
532 
532 
533 
533 

527 
534 
543 
539 
605 
178 
432 
569 
308 
281 
623 
397 
437 

66 
257 

93 
170 
325 
325 
639 
252 

85 


Clusium,  black  vases  of      .         . 
Coins,  table  of  (bronze),  see  full-page  illus 
"     "     (sold) 
"     "   (silver) 
Colony,  coin  of  a       , 

"       (ground  plan  of  lauds  for) 
Comic  actor        .... 
Concord  (coin)    . 
Consul  between  two  fasces  (coin) 
Corcyra,  coin  of     . 
Cosa  "     " 

Corsica  and  Sardinia  (map) 
Cossura,  coin  of 
Crotona     "     " 
Cncumella,  the  . 
Cumae,  coin  of       .         .         , 

"       cave  of  the  Sybil  of 
Cybele  (coin) 


Decius  Mus  (coin) 
Decurions,  coin  of  the 
Demetrius  Polioreetes  (coin) 
Demons  leading  away  a  soul 
Denarius,  silver 

"  "     of  Antoninus  Pius 

Diana,  or  the  Moon  (cameo) 

"      with  the  hind    . 
Dii  Penates  (coin) 
Dioscuri  " 

Dnillius,  rostral  column  of 


Elea,  coin  of      .         .         . 
Elephant  (ex-voto) 
Elepliants,  African  (gem)    . 
(coin)     . 
(gem) 
Elysian  repast 
Entella,  coin  of 
Ercte,  coin  of 
Eryx,  remains  of  the  town  of 

"   Mount,  view  fi'om 
Escutcheons,  patrician 
Etna,  from  Taormina 
Etruria,  Southern  (map) 
Etruscan  alphabets 

"         archer 

"         chimacra 

"         cups    .         .         ■ 

"        figure  with  four  wings 

"         figures 

"         funeral  urn 
gorgou 

"        helmet  of  Lucumon 


86 


ALPHABETICAL   INDEX   TO   TEXT   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


21 


Etruscan  jewels  and  earrings 
"        Mars  .         .         .         . 
"        mirror 
"        sideboard     . 
"        standard-bearer 
"        tomb  (the  Cucumella) 


"        vases  (comic  scenes  from) 

it  t(  tt  4i 

Eugubine  tables,  fragment  of 

Fabia,  ffen.i,  coin  of 

Fabius  Pictor  (coin)   . 

Faesulae,  walls  of 

Falerii  (old  gate  of  citadel) 

Easces  (coin) 

Eaun  of  Praxiteles 

Eaustulus  (colli) 

Eeronia       "... 

Ficle.i  " 

Elora  "      . 

Elute-player   . 

Fortuna  (statue  in  tlie  Vatican) 

"      Virilis,  tctrastyle  temple  of 
Frater  Arvalis     .... 
Frentani,  coin  of  the 
Fnria,  ffens,  tomb  of  the   . 
Futile  (vase  of  the  Vestals) 


Gabii,  treaty  with  (coin)     . 
Gallic  chariot 

"     torqiii.s        ..... 
Garlands  of  leaves  around  a  temple  (coin) 
Gaul,  wounded 
Gaulos  (coin  of) 
Gauls      .... 
Gela,  coin  of      .         .         . 

Gladiator  (gem) 

Good  Success  (coin) 

Greek  tomb-reliefs 

Grinder,  st;itue  of  the 

Group  from  the  Villa  Ludovisi 

Hannibal 

Haruspex  (bas-relief) 

Heracleia,  coin  of  . 

Hicetas,         "     " 

Hiero  II.       "    " 

Honor  and  Virtue  (coin)    . 

Hope     .... 


(cameo)    . 


73 

443 

93 

254 
440 

83 
378 
440 
597 
018 
619 

5S 

190 
614 
595 
359 
273 
203 
141 
204 
222 
623 
436 
201 
202 
225 
98 
600 
227 

181 
452 
379 
221 
376 
536 
364 
462 
556 
625 
124 
578 
175 
599 

652 
671 
466 
401 
553 
603 
305 
316 


Horatia,  r/c/is,  coin  of 
Horatins  Codes  (medallion) 

Issa,  coin  of 
Italy  (coin) 

Janus  (coin) 

Juno 

"  Lucina  (coin) 
"  Moucta    " 
"  nursing  Hercules 
"  of  Herculaueura 
"  Sospita  (coin)    . 
Jupiter,  head  of 

"     (intaglio) 

"     Capitolinus,  temple  of  (coin) 

"     Eeretrius,  ruins  of  temple  of 

"     of  Herculaiieuin 

Knight  holding  his  horse  (coin) 


Laciman  Cape,  the 
Lares 

"     (coin)  . 
Larinum,  coin  of 
Laus  "  "     . 

Led isternium  (coin)    . 

"  seat  for  a 

Liberty  (coin)    . 
Libya,  coin  of 
Lilybaeum,  coin  of 
Lipari  "    "    . 

Lucauia         "    '^ 
Lucumon's  helmet . 


Maccus      .... 
Malta,  coin  of         .         . 
Maniertines,  the,  coin  of     . 
Maiiiilia,  yra.s         "     "  . 
Marcellus  (coin) 
Marcia,  gens,  coin  of 
Mars  (coin) 

"      sacrifices  to  . 
Matri  Magnae  (coin)  .     .     . 
Merchant  vessel  under  sail  (gem) 
Mercury     .... 

"       found  at  Palestrina 
Messina,  coin  of 

"         Straits  of  (map) 
Metapontum,  coin  of 

"  ruins  of  the  temple  of 

Metellus  (coin) 
Milestone       .... 


22 


ALPHABETICAL   INDEX   TO   TEXT   ILLUSTEATIONS. 


Minerva  of  Hcrculaiieum     .         .         .  236 

Mu/ncipium.,  coin  of  a      .         .         .         .  484 

Naples,  coin  of 485 

Navius,  miracle  of  (coin)         .         .         .  100 

Nola,  coin  of      ....         .  485 

"     vase  of 651 

Nomeiitum,  bridge  of          ...  2S4 

Nuceria,  coin  of     .          ....  486 

Nunia  Pompilius,  traditional  ligure  of  .  147 

Nuraghe  of  Sori 530 

Ops  (coin) 124 

Order  of  battle  (plan)     .         .         .         .517 

Paestum ,  coin  of         ...         .  426 
Palatine,  ancient  substructions  of    .         .188 

Palladium,  the  (coin)          .         .         .  228 

Pallor                    "           ....  156 

Paludamentum    .....  673 

Panormus,  coin  of           ....  571 

Pelasgio  remains         ....  47 

Pliaros,  coin  of       ....         .  593 

Pliintias   "     " 461 

Piliiiii     .         .         .         .         .         .         .515 

Plonglniian 260 

Tuscan 69 

Po,  present  state  of  the  coast  south  of  (map)  30 

Pomegranate  (^r.r-vo/6)         .         .         .  541 

Pontine  Marshes,  |)resent  state  of  (map)  .  32 

Po|ndonia,  coin  of      ....  36 

"     " 76- 

Praeneste,  bronze  group  found  nt         .  259 

chest  "     "      .         .480 

"     lid  of         "     "  615 

"        Plioenician  cup  found  at  .         .  300 

Praxiteles,  the  Faun  of       .         .         .  203 

Priest  of  Apollo 636 

"     presenting  inceuse-box      .         .  336 

Prisoner  (gem) 368 

Ptolemy  IV.,  Euergctcs  (coin)    .         .  603 

"      Philadelphus           "    .         .         .  472 

Punic  ships,  ligurps  at  prow  of   .         .  538 

Puteal  of  Libo  (coin)      ....  259 

Pyrrhus 465 

"        coin  of 464 

Regillus,  Lake,  battle  of  (coin)  .         .  179 

Regnlus                                 "            .         .  566 

llliea  Sylvia                           "       .         .  141 

Eliegium,  coin  of            ....  557 

Roman  bracelet          ....  146 

"       camp  (plan)        ....  518 

"       galley 562 


Roman  horse-soldier 

.     513 

"       soldier   .... 

511 

"           "             .... 

.     512 

Rome,  followed  by  a  magistrate  . 

35] 

"     seated  upon  the  Seven  Hills  (coin)      180 

"     and  the  She-wolf  (coin) 

.     143 

Romulus,  traditional  figure  of     . 

143 

Rostra,  the  (coin) 

.     422 

Rostral  colunnis 

563 

Rutuhans,  coin  of  the     . 

.       90 

Sabines,  rape  of  the  (coin)  . 

186 

Sacred  tree,    ..... 

.     216 

Sacrilice,  instruments  of      . 

223 

Sacrilioes,  human    .... 

.     375 

Saguntum,  remains  of  theatre  of 

656 

Salian  priest  (coin) 

.     149 

Samnite  liorsenian 

442 

"      warrior        .... 

.     100 

(1          (( 

440 

a               u 

.      441 

Sanuiiuni,  coin  of        .         .         . 

101 

Santa  Maria  di  Leuca,  Cape    . 

23 

Sardinia,  coin  of          .         .         . 

530 

Saturn,  temple  of    .         .         .   '      . 

.     148 

Salnraus 

138 

"        (coin)       .... 

.     138 

Scipio  Barbatus,  tomb  of    . 

448 

Segesta,  coin  of       . 

.     557 

Seliuus      "  "    . 

571 

"       rcniaius  of            ... 

.     573 

"       temple  of  (frieze)     . 

568 

"           "       "  (meto]ie) 

.     570 

4(                      U              (<                  U 

572 

((                 ((           tt               tc 

.      574 

"            •'       "  archaic  metope 

579 

Servilius  Ahala,  coin  of  . 

.     348 

Servius  Tullius,  agijcr  or  rampart  of 

161 

"            "          "       "         "          (section)  163 

"       wall  of 

.     162 

Sezze          

313 

"     ruins  of  a  temple  near 

.     314 

She-wolf  of  the  Capitol 

626 

Shield,  votive          .... 

.     459 

Shrine,  entrance  of  a 

123 

Sicily,  coin  of         .... 

.     552 

"     (map)       .... 

550 

Sidon,  coin  of          .... 

.     530 

Signia,  gate  of    . 

169 

Stola       

.     266 

Suessa,  coin  of  . 

423 

Sun-dial 

.     628 

Suovetaurilia      .... 

233 

"                    .... 

.     507 

ALPHABETICAL   INDEX   TO   TEXT   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


23 


Sutrium,  amphitheatre  of 
Syharis,  coin  of 
Sylvaiuis  (coin) 

Taiiit,  the  goddess 

"        "         "        temple  of 
Taoriiuiia,  tlieatre  of  . 

"         view  of 
Tareiitum,  coin  of 

"         harbor  of  ([ilan) 
Tarpeia  (coin) 
Tarpeian  rock     . 
Tarqiiins,  tomb  of  the 
Tatius,  traditional  figure  of 
Tauromeniuni,  coin  of     . 
Teate  "     " 

Teatro  Greco,  Taormiua 
Temesa,  coin  of 
Terina,      "     "  .         . 

Terminus,  the  god 
Terror  (coin) 
Thrasimene,  Lake  (map) 
Thunderbolt  with  eight  forks 

"  "     twelve    " 

Thurii,  coin  of  the 
Tiber  (coiu) 
Toga,  Roman  in  a 


.  372 

45 

• 

.  262 

. 

539 

.   512 

, 

586 

.  587 

.  485 

. 

462 

.   U5 

, 

335 

.   179 

146 

.  575 

98 

590 

.  215 

•    . 

102 

.  119 

156 

.  674 

(coiu)  . 

127 

*'  . 

.  127 

, 

104 

. 

.  204 

, 

133 

bas-reliefs  of 


Torqnix,  Gallic 
Triijurira,  llio  (coin) 
Tuceia,  the  Vestal  . 
Tuder,  as  of 

"     coin  of 
Twelve  gods,  altar  of  the 

it  (1  4( 

Tusculum  (restored) 
"  (present  state) 

Veii,  city  of  (plan) 
Venus  Erycina  (coiu) 
Venusia,  coin  of 
Vesta  (coin) 

Vestal        " 
Vestals        " 
Victory,  statue  of 
Volaterra,  gate  of 
Volscians,  coin  of  the 
Vulcan  of  Elba,  the     . 


War-vessel  with  beak-head  (gem)    , 

"        "       "      double  beak-head  (coin) 
Women  spinning         .... 

Youtb  (coiu) 


379 
553 
229 
57 
57 
678 
677 
303 
304 

306 

564 

23 

221 

234 

227 

230 

680 

81 

92 

128 

444 
561 
201 

125 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE    PIIE-E.OMAN    EPOCH. 

I. 

THE  GEOGEAPHY   Of  ITALY. 


COIN   OF    ANTONINUS    REmESENTING    ITALY.l 


HORACE   was   afraid    of    the    sea;    he    called    it    Oceanus    dis- 
sociabilis,    the    element   which    separates ;    and    yet    it   was, 
even    for   the    ancients,    the    element   which    unites. 

Looking  at  the  mountains  which  run  from  Galicia  to  the  Cau- 
casus, from  Armenia  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  from  the  region  of  the 
Syrtes  to  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  we  recognize  the  higher  parts  of 
an  immense  basin,  the  bottom  of  which  is  filled  by  the  Mediter- 
ranean. These  limits,  marked  out.  by  geography,  are  also,  for 
antiquity,  the  limits  of  history,  which  never,  save  towards  Persia, 

1  The  letters  tr.  pot.,  an  alibre\i.ation  of  Trihuuicla  Potestas.  signify  the  tribunician 
power  with  which  the  Emperors  were  invested ;  the  letters  COS.  III.  mean  that  Antoninus  was, 
or  had  l)een.  Consul  for  the  third  time;  and  s.c.  that  it  was  by  order  of  the  Senate,  '•  Senatu.s 
Consulto,"  that  the  piece  of  money  was  coined.  Antoninus  having  had  his  third  Consulship  in 
A.  D.  140,  and  the  fourth  in  145,  the  medal  was  issued  during  one  of  the  years  which  intervene 
between  these  dates.  The  Senate  of  the  Empire  only  coined  bronze  money.  The  first  Irih. 
pot.  dated  from  the  day  of  the  prince's  accession :  since  Trajan's  time,  all  .ire  dated  from  the 
1st  of  January ;  hence  the  number  of  iha'trih.  pot.  gives  the  number  of  the  years  of  the  reign. 

vol..  I.  2 


18  INTEODUCTION. 

departed  far  from  the  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean.  Without  this 
sea,  the  space  it  occupies  would  have  been  the  continuation  of  the 
African  Sahara,  —  an  impassable  desert ;  l^y  means  of  it,  on  the 
contrary,  the  people  settled  on  its  shores  have  interchanged  their 
ideas  and  their  vs^ealth ;  and  if  we  except  those  ancient  societies 
of  the  distant  East  which  always  have  remained  apart  from  Eu- 
ropean progress,  it  is  around  this  coast  that  the  first  civilized 
nations  have  dwelt.  Italy,  therefore,  by  its  position,  between  Greece, 
Spain,  and  Gaul,  and  by  its  elongated  shape,  which  extends  almost 
to  the  shores  of  Africa  and  towards  the  East,  is  in  truth  the 
centre  of  the  ancient  world,  —  at  once  the  nearest  point  to  the 
three  continents  which  the  Mediterranean  washes  and  unites.  Geog- 
raphy explains  only  a  portion  of  history ;  but  that  portion  it 
explains  well,  —  the  rest  belongs  to  men.  According  as  they  show 
in  their  administration  wisdom  or  folly,  they  turn  to  good  or  evil 
the  work  of  nature.  The  situation  of  Italy,  therefore,  will  easily 
account  for  her  varied  destinies  in  ancient  times,  and  in  modern 
up  to  a  recent  period ;  it  will  account  for  the  vigor  and  energy 
she  manifested  outside  her  limits,  so  long  as  her  iuhal^itants  formed 
a  united  j^eople,  surrounded  by  divided  tribes ;  later,  for  the  evils 
which  overwhelmed  licr  from  all  points  of  the  horizon,  when  her 
power  was  exhausted  and  her  unity  destroyed,  —  it  accounts  for 
Italy,  in  a  word,  mistress  of  the  world  around  her,  and  Italy,  the 
prize  for  which  all  her  neighbors  contend. 

There  is  another  important  consideration.  If  the  position  occu- 
pied by  Italy  at  the  very  centre  of  the  ancient  world  favored  her 
fortune  in  the  days  of  her  strength,  and  procured  her  so  many 
enemies  in  the  time  of  her  weakness,  was  not  this  very  weakness, 
which  at  first  delivered  the  peninsula  to  the  Romans,  and  after 
them,  for  fourteen  centuries,  to  the  stranger,  chiefly  due  to  her 
natural  conformation  ? 

Surrounded  on  three  sides  by  the  sea,  and  on  the  fourth  by 
the  Alps,  Italy  is  a  peninsula  which  stretches  towards  the  south 
in  two  points ;  while  at  the  north  it  widens  into  a  semicircle 
of  lofty  mountains,  above  which  towers  majestically,  with  its 
sparkling  snow,  the  summit  sometimes  called  by  the  Lombards 
"La  Rosa  dell'  Italia."  The  summit  next  in  height  to  Mont  Blanc 
is   this  Monte  Rosa ;    it  is   not  six   hundred   feet   lower    than   the 


o 


THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF  ITALY.  19 

giant  of  Europe.^  Italy,  tlien,  is  in  part  peninsular,  and  in  part 
continental,  the  two  regions  being  distinct  in  origin,  configviration, 
and  history.  The  one,  a  vast  plain  traversed  by  the  great  river 
whose  alluvia  have  formed  it,  has  been  in  all  ages  the  battle-field 
of  European  ambitions ;  the  other,  a  narrow  mountain-chain,  cut 
into  deep  ravines  by  countless  torrents,  and  torn  by  volcanic  shocks, 
has  almost  always  had  an  opposite  destiny. 

This  peninsula  is  the  true  Italy,  and  it  is  one  of  the  most 
divided  countries  in  the  world.  In  its  innumerable  valleys,' many  of 
which  are  almost  shut  off  from  the  outside  world,  its  population 
grew  into  that  love  of  independence  which  mountain  races  have 
manifested  in  all  time ;  but,  with  it,  into  that  need  of  an  isolated 
life  which  so  often  endangers  the  much-loved  lil^erty :  in  every 
valley,  a  state ;  for  every  village,  a  god.  Never  would  Italy  have 
emerged  from  obscurity  had  there  not  been  developed  in  the  midst 
of  these  tribes  an  energetic  principle  of  association.  By  dint  of 
skill,  courage,  and  perseverance,  the  Roman  Senate  and  its  legions 
triumphed  over  physical  obstacles  as  well  as  over  the  interests  and 
passions  which  had  grown  up  behind  their  shelter,  and  united  all 
the  Italian  peoples,  making  of  the  whole  peninsula  one  city. 

But,  like  the  oak  half-cleft  by  Milon,  which  springs  together 
when  the  strength  of  the  old  athlete  gives  way,  and  seizes  him  in 
tui'n.  Nature,  for  a  time  conquered  by 'Roman  energy,  resumed  its 
sway ;  and  when  Rome  fell,  Italy,  left  to  herself,  returned  to  her 
endless  divisions,  imtil  the  day  when  the  modern  idea  of  great 
nationalities  accomplished  iov  her  what,  twenty-three  centuries 
earlier,  had  been  done  by  the  ablest  statesmanship,  served  by  the 
most  powerful  of  military  organizations. 

By  her  geographical  position,  then,  Italy  Avas  destined  to  have 
an  important  share  in  the  world's  history,  whether  acting  outside 
her  own  territory,  or  herself  becoming  the  prize  of  heroic  struggles. 
Nor  is  Rome  an  accident,  a  chance,  in  the  peninsula's  history ;  Rome 
is  the  moment  when  the  Italian  peoples,  for  the  first  time  united, 
obtained  the  object  promised  to  their  joint  efforts,  —  the  power  which 
springs  from  union.  Doubtless  History  has  often  been  compelled  to 
say  with  Napoleon  :  '•  Italy  is  too  long  and  too  much  divided."     But 

1  Mount  Elbourz,  in  the  Caucasus,  is  now  known  to  be  the  highest  (eighteen  thousand 
five  hundred  feet). 


20  INTKODUCTION.' 

when  from  the  Alps  to  the  Maltese  Channel  there  was  but  one 
people  and  one  interest,  an  incomparable  prosperity  became  the 
glorious  lot  of  this  beautiful  land,  with  its  two  thousand  miles  of 
sea-coast,  its  brave  population  of  sailors  and  mountaineers,  its  natural 
harbors  and  fertile  districts  at  the  foot  of  its  forest-covered  hills,  and 
its  command  of  two  seas,  holding  as  it  did  the  key  of  the  passage 
from  one  to  the  other  of  the  two  great  Mediterranean  basins.  Be- 
tween the  East,  now  breaking  up  in  anarchy,  and  the  West,  not  yet 
alive  to  civilization,  Italy,  united  and  disciplined,  naturally  took  the 
place  of  command.  This  phase  of  humanity  required  ten  centuries 
for  its  birth  and  growth  and  complete  development ;  and  the  story 
of  these  ten  centuries  we  call  the  History  of  Rome. 

A  modern  poet  gives  in  a  single  line  an  exact  description  of  this 
country,  — 

"  Cli'  Apennin  parte  e  '1  mar  circonda  e  1'  Alpe."  * 

That  portion  of  the  Alpine  chain  which  separates  Italy  from  the 
rest  of  Europe  extends  in  an  irregular  curving  line  from  Savona  to 
Fiume,  a  distance  of  about  seven  hundred  and  fifteen  miles;  the 
breadth  of  this  mountain  mass  is  from  eighty  to  ninety-five  miles  in 
the  region  of  the  St.  Gothard  and  the  Septimer  (the  Pennine  Alps), 
and  rather  more  than  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  in  the  Tyrol  ^ 
(the  Rhaetian  Alps).  The  perpetual  snows  of  these  high  summits 
foi-m  huge  glaciers,  which  feed  the  streams  of  Upper  Italy,  and  trace 
a  glittering  outline  against  the  sky.  But  the  watershed,  lying 
nearer  Italy  than  Germany,  divides  the  mass  unevenly.  Like  all  the 
great  European  mountain-chains,^  the  Alps  have  their  more  gentle 
slope  towards  the  North,  —  whence  have  come  all  the  invasions,  — 
and  their  escarpment  towards  the  South,  —  which  has  received  them 
all.^     Upon  the  side  of  France  and  Germany  the  mountains  run  to 

^  "  AMiicli  the  Apennine  divides,  and  the  sea  and  tlie  Alps  surround." 

^  From  St.  Gothard  to  the  Straits  of  Messina,  Italy  measures  625  miles,  with  a  mean 
breadth  of  from  88  to  100  miles;  in  area,  185,000  square  miles. 

'  With  the  exception  of  the  Caucasus,  whose  northern  slope  is  much  steeper  than  that  of 
the  south. 

*  This  is  true,  especially  for  the  ]\Iaritime,  Cottian,  Graian,  and  Pennine  Alps ;  but  the 
Helvetian  and  Rhaetian  Alps  send  forth  to  the  south  long  spurs,  forming  the  high  valleys 
of  the  Ticino,  of  the  Adda,  the  Adige,  and  the  Brenta.  Geographically,  these  valleys  belong 
to  Italy  (canton  of  the  Ticino,  the  Valteline,  and  part  of  the  Tyrol) ;  but  they  have  always 
been  inhabited  by  races  foreign  to  the  peninsula,  which  have  never  protected  her  against 
invasions  from  the  north. 


THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF   ITALY. 


21 


the  plain  by  long  spurs,  which  break  the  descent,  while  from  the 
Piedmont  side  Mont  Blanc  appears  like  a  wall  of  granite,  sheer  for 
about  ten  thousand  feet  down  from  its  summit.  Man  stops  at 
the  foot  of  these  cliffs,  on  which  hold  neither  grass  nor  snow ; 
and  Northern  Italy,  having  little  Alpine  pasture-land,  is  not  like 
the  Dauphine,  Switzerland,  and  the  Tyrol,^  defended  by  a  race  of 
brave  mountaineers. 


MOrf  iM'CiU^r^. 


Scale  of  -, 


Thi  Limit  OF  THE  Alps  i  Apenmin£S.- 


This  difference  between  the  incline  and  extent  of  the  two 
sides  indicates  one  of  the  causes  which  insured  the  first  suc- 
cesses of  the  expeditions  directed  against  Italy.  Once  masters  of 
the  northern  side,  the  invaders  had  only  a  march  of  a  day  or  two 


1  These  Alps  are  covered  witli  beautiful  forests,  which  Vcnioe  at  the  time  of  her  power 
turned  to  profit;  intractable  mountaineers  live  there,  like  the  inhabitants  of  the  Sette  Com- 
muni.  One  of  the  characteristics  of  the  Juhan  Alps  is  the  number  of  grottos  and  subter- 
ranean channels  which  they  embrace.  From  the  River  Isonzo  to  the  frontiers  of  Bosnia 
there  are  more  than  a  thousand ;  and  the  natives  of  the  country  say  that  there  are  as  many 
streams  below  the  soil  as  there  are  over  it.  Channels  of  this  kind,  when  not  filled  with 
water,  atford  an  entry  into  the  8ette  Communi. 

-  The  (|uestion  of  the  boundary  between  the  .Vlps  and  the  Apennines  has  been  long  a 
subject  of  debate;  the  engineers  have  decided  it  by  making  a  railroad  above  Savona  over 
the  Col  d'  Altase,  which  is  not  sixteen  hundred  feet  in  height,  whence  one  descends  into 
the  famous  valleys  of  the  Bormida  and  the  Tanaro. 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

to  bring  tliem  into  the  richest  country.^  Thus  Italy  has  never 
been  able  to  escape  from  invasions  or  to  keep  aloof  from  Euro- 
pean wars,  despite  her  formidable  barrier  of  the  Alps,  with  their 
colossal  summits,  "  which,  when  seen  close,"  said  Napoleon,  "  seem 
like  giants  of  ice  commissioned  to  defend  the  approach  to  that 
beautiful  country."^ 

The  Alps  are  joined,  near  Savona,  by  the  Apennines,  which 
traverse  the  whole  peninsula,  or  rather,  which  have  formed  it  and 
given  it  its  character.  Their  mean  height  in  Liguria  is  1,000 
metres  (3,275  feet) ;  but  in  Tuscany  they  are  much  higher,  where 
the  ridges  of  Pontremoli,  between  Sarzana  and  Parma,  of  Fium- 
albo,  between  Lucca  and  Modena,  of  Futa,  between  Florence  and 
Bologna,  attain  the  height  of  3,300  to  3,900  feet.  Thus  Etruria 
was  protected  for  a  long  time  by  these  mountains  against  the  Cis- 
Alpine  Gauls,  and  for  some  months  against  Hannibal. 

The  highest  summits  of  the  whole  chain  of  the  Apennines 
are  to  the  east  of  Rome,  in  the  country  of  the  Marsians  and  the 
Vestini :  Velino,  8,180  feet ;  and  Monte  Corno,  9,520  feet,  whence 
can  be  seen  the  two  seas  which  wash  Italy,  and  even  the  moun- 
tains of  Illyria,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Adriatic.  At  this 
height  a  peak  of  the  Aljos  or  the  Pyrenees  would  be  covered  with 
perpetual  snow ;  in  the  climate  of  Rome  it  is  not  cold  enough  to 
form  a  glacier,  and  Monte  Corno  loses  its  snow  at  the  end  of 
July ;  but  it  always  preserves  its  Alpine  landscape,  with  the 
bears    and   the    chamois    of   great   mountains. 

Three  branches  separate  at  the  west  from  the  central  chain, 
and  cover  with  their  ramifications  a  considerable  part  of  Etruria, 
Latium,  and  Campania.  One  of  these  branches,  after  sinking  to 
the  level  of  the  plain,  rises  at  its  extremity  in  a  nearly  detached 
rock  forming  the  promontory  of  Circe  (Monte  Circello),  where  is 
shown  the  grotto  of  the  mighty  sorceress.  Tiberius,  who  on  the 
question  of  demons  believed  neither  in  those  of  the  past  nor  in 
those  of  the  present,  had  a  villa  built  near  this  dreaded  spot. 

1  Augustus  understood  it ;  and  in  order  to  defend  Italy,  lie  carried  tlie  Roman  outposts 
as  far  as  the  Danube.  ISIarius  also  had  gone  beyond  the  Alps  to  meet  the  Cimbri ;  wliile 
Catulus,  who  wished  only  to  defend  the  Italian  side,  was  forced  to  retreat  without  a  battle 
behind  the  Po.  Thus  it  was  not  in  the  mountains,  but  behind  the  Adige,  that  General 
Bonaparte  established  his  line  of  defence  in  1796. 

2  Cicero,  de  Prov.  Consul.  14,  said  more  simply:  "Alpibus  Italiam  muniverat  antea 
natura,  non  sine  aliquo  divino  numine." 


THE   GEOGRAPHY    OF   ITALY. 


23 


From  the  eastern  side  of  the  Apennines  there  are  only  some 
hills  detached,  which  descend  straight  towards  the  Adriatic.  But, 
like  Vesuvius  on  the  opposite  coast  (3,948  feet),  Monte  Gargano 
forms,  over  the  Gulf  of  Manfredonia,  a  solitary  group,  of  which 
one  summit  rises  to  the  height  of  5,283  feet.  Ancient  forests 
cover  this  moimtain,  ever  heaten  by  the  furious  winds  which  toss 
the  Adriatic. 

Below  Venosa  (Venusia)  the  Apennines  separate  into  two 
l^ranches,  which  surround  the  Gulf 
of  Taranto ;  the  one  runs  through 
the  land  of  Bari  and  Otranto,  and 
ends  in  a  gentle  slope  at  Capo  di 
Leuca ;  the  other  forms,  through 
the  two  Calabrias,  a  succession  of  ''""'  '^^  vexusia.i 

undulated  table-lands,  one  of  which,   the  Sila,  4,910  feet^  high,  is 
not  less  than  fifty  miles  long  from  Cosenza  to  Catanzaro.     Covered 


CAPE    SANTA    MARIA    DI    LEUCA. 


formerly  with  impenetrable  forests,  the  Sila  was  the  shelter  of 
fugitive  slaves  (Bruttians),  and  was  the  last  retreat  of  Hannibal 
in    Italy.      Now    fine    pastures    have   partly   taken    the    place    of 


^  On  the  obverse  the  head  of  Jupiter ;  on  the  reverse,  an  eagle  bearing  a  tliunderbolt ; 
the  letters  ae  (aes)  signify  that  the  piece  is  bronze  money,  and  the  five  ooooo  that  it  was 
a  quincunx,  that  is  to  say,  that  it  weighed  5  oz.,  —  the  us  Uhralis,  or  Roman  pound,  weighing 
12  oz.     Rome  never  struck  the  quincunx;  it  was  found  only  in  the  South  of  Italy. 

-  The  highest  top  of  the  Sila,  the  Monte  Nero,  is  nearly  six  thousand  feet  high. 


24  INTKODUCTION. 

these  forests,  whence  Rome  aud  Syracuse  obtained  their  timber. 
But  the  temperature  there  is  always  low  for  an  Italian  country, 
and  notwithstanding  its  position  in  latitude  38°,  snow  remains 
during  six  months  of  the  year.^  Still  farther  to  the  south,  one 
of  the  summits  of  the  Aspromonte  measures  4,368  feet  high.  Fur- 
thermore, while  beyond  Cajjo  di  Leuca  there  is  only  the  Ionian 
Sea,  beyond  the  lighthouse  of  Messina  we  come  to  Etna  and  the 
triangle  of  the  Sicilian  mountains,  —  an  evident  continuation  of  the 
chain  of  the  Apennines. 

The  two  slopes  of  the  Apennines  do  not  differ  less  than  the 
two  sides  of  the  Alps.^  On  the  narrow  shore  which  is  washed 
by  the  Upper,  or  Adriatic,  Sea,  are  rich  pasture-lands,  woody  hills, 
separated  by  the  deep  beds  of  torrents,  a  flat  shore,  no  ports 
{importuosum  litus),^  no  islands,  and  a  stormy  sea,  inclosed  be- 
tween two  chains  of  mountains,  like  a  long  valley  where  the 
winds  are  pent  in,  and  rage  at  every  obstacle  they  meet.  On 
the  western  side,  on  the  contrary,  the  Apennines  are  more  remote 
from  the  sea,  and  great  plains,  watered  l)y  tranquil  rivers,  great 
gulfs,  natural  harl)ors,  numerous  islands,  as  well  as  a  sea  usually 
calm,  promote  agriculture,  navigation,  and  commerce.  Hence  a 
population  of  three  distinct  and  opjjosite  kinds :  mariners  about 
the  ports,  husbandmen  in  the  plains,  and  shepherds  in  the  moun- 
tains ;  or,  to  call  them  by  their  historical  names,  the  Italiotes  and 
Etruscans,  Rome  and  the  Latins,  the  Marsians  and  the  Samnites.* 

Yet  these  plains  of  Campania,  of  Latium,  of  Etruria,  and  of 
Apulia,  notwithstanding  their  extent,  cover  but  a  very  small  part  of 

1  Bruguiere,   Orographie  de  rEurnpe. 

2  However,  Apulia,  with  its  extinct  volcano,  its  great  plains,  its  Lake  Lesina,  its 
marshes,  situated  to  the  north  and  to  the  south  of  Mount  Gargano;  beyond  this  the 
marshy  but  extremely  fertile  lands  watered  by  the  Gulf  of  Taranto;  lastly,  the  numerous 
harbors  of  this  coast,  —  reproduce  some  of  the  features  of  the  western  coast. 

"  All  the  islands  of  the  Adriatic,  with  the  exception  of  the  unimportant  group  of  the 
Tremiti,  are  on  the  Ulyrian  coast,  where  they  form  an  inextricable  labyrinth,  the  resort  of 
pirates,  who  have  in  all  times  levied  contributions  on  the  commerce  of  the  Adriatic. 

*  All  the  extinct  as  well  as  active  volcanoes  are  west  of  the  Apennines,  except  Mount 
Vultur  in  Apulia.  It  is  these  numerous  volcanoes  which  have  driven  the  sea  far  from  the 
foot  of  the  Apennines,  and  have  enlarged  this  coast,  whereas  the  opposite  shore,  where  not 
a  single  volcano  is  to  be  seen,  is  so  narrow;  whence  come  also  those  lakes  in  the  niidat 
of  ancient  craters,  and  perhaps  a  part  of  the  marshes.  It  is  known  that  in  1538  the 
Lucrine  Lake  was  changed  into  a  marsh  by  a  volcanic,  erujition.  The  lowest  part  of 
the  Pontine  Marshes  is  on  a  line  joining  Stromboli  to  the  ancient  craters  of  Bolsena  and 
Vico. 


- "    -       -   -; -" i •^'""■:^^t T 


r«t^.dit'^.)kJ-     ^iiaS 


t^  ■vis; 


G.  or  NAPl. -.S         V^   -"    >,     •31 


PHYSICAL   ITALY. 


THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF   ITALY.  25 

11  peninsula  which  may  be  described  generally  as  a  country  bristling 
Avitli  mountains  and  intersected  by  deep  valleys.  AVhy  need  we 
wonder  at  persistent  political  divisions  in  a  country  so  divided  by 
Nature  herself?  —  Aelian  counted  up  as  many  as  1,197  cities,  each 
of  which  had  possessed,  or  aspired  to,  an  independent  existence. 

The  Apennines  possess  neither  glaciers,  nor  great  rivers,  nor 
the  pointed  peaks  of  the  Alps,  nor  the  colossal  masses  of  the 
Pyrenees.  Yet  their  summits,  bare  and  rugged,  their  flanks  often 
stripped  and  barren,  the  deep  and  wild  ravines  which  fm-row 
them,  all  contrast  with  the  soft  outlines  and  the  rich  vegetation 
of  the  sub-Apennine  mountains.  Add  to  this,  at  every  step,  beau- 
tiful ruins,  recalling  splendid  traditions,  the  brightness  of  the  sky, 
great  lakes,  rivers  which  tumble  from  the  mountains,  volcanoes 
with  cities  at  their  foot,  and  everywhere  along  the  horizon  the 
sparkling  sea,  calm  and  smooth,  or  terrible  when  its  waves,  lashed 
by  the  Sirocco,  or  by  submarine  convulsions,  buffet  the  shore,  and 
beat  now  upon  Amalfi,  now  upon  Baiae  or  Paestum. 

Europe  has  no  active  volcanoes  luit  in  the  peninsula  and  islands 
of  Italy.  In  ancient  tmies,  subterranean  fires  were  at  work  from 
the  Carinthian  Alps,  where  are  found  some  rocks  of  igneous  origin : 
these  reach  as  far  as  the  Island  of  Malta,  a  part  of  which  has  sunk 
into  the  sea.^ 

The  basaltic  mountains  of  Southern  Tyrol  and  of  the  districts 
of  Verona,  Vicenza,  and  Padua ;  near  the  Po  the  catastrophe  of 
Velleja  buried  by  an  earthquake ;  in  Tuscany  sul^terranean  noises, 
continual  shocks,  and  those  sudden  disturbances  wliich  made 
Etruria  the  land  of  prodigies ;  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  the 
tradition  of  Cacus  vomiting  forth  flames,^  the  gulf  of  Curtius,  the 
volcanic  matter  which  forms  the  very  soil  of  Rome,  and  of  all  its 
hills,  the  Janiculum  excepted ;  the  streams  of  lava  from  the  hills 
of  All)a  and  Tusculum ;  the  immense  crater  (thirty-eight  miles  in 
circumference),  the  sunken  edge  of  which  shows  us  the  charming 
lake  of  Albano  and  that  of  Nemi,  which  the  Romans  used  to  call 

1  The  Travels  of  Major  de  Valenthienne.  The  volcanic  action  used  to  reach  still  far- 
ther in  the  same  direction.  Many  extinct  volcanoes  and  lava  are  found  in  the  regency  ot 
Tunis  towards  El-Kef  (Sicca  Veneria).  Cf.  La  Regence  de  Tunis,  by  M.  Pelissier  de 
Keynaud. 

^  This  legend  is  true  so  far  as  concerns  the  recollection  of  the  volcanic  eruptions  of 
Latiuni,  but  it  is  false  in  placing  them  on  the  Aventiue,  the  abode  of  Cacus. 


26  •  INTRODUCTION. 

the  Mirror  of  Diana ;  the  legend  of  Caeculus  building  at  Praeneste 
walls  of  flames ;  the  enormous  pile  of  lava  and  debris  on  the  sides 
of  Mount  Vultur;^  the  islands  rising  from  the  sea,  of  which  Livy 
speaks ;  the  Phlegraean  fields,  the  ancient  eruptions  of  the  Island 
of  Ischia,   of  Vesuvius,  and  of  Etna,   and  so  many  extinct  craters, 

—  all  these  show  that  the  whole  of  Italy  was  once  situated  on  an 
immense  volcanic  centre. 

At  the  present  time  the  activity  of  the  sul^terranean  fires  seems 
to  be  concentrated  in  the  middle  of  this  line,  in  Vesuvius,  whose 
eruptions  are  always  threatening  the  charming  towns  which  insist 
on  remaining  close  to  this  formidable  neighbor ;  in  Etna,  which, 
in  one  of  its  convulsions,  tore  away  Sicily  from  Italy ;  ^  and  in  the 
Lipari  Islands,  situated  in  the  centre  of  the  seismic  sphere  of  the 
Mediterranean.     In  the  north  we  find  only  craters  half  filled  up,^ 

—  the  volcanic  hills  of  Rome,  of  Viterbo,  and  of  St.  Agatha,  near 
Sessa ;  the  hot  streams  and  springs  of  Tuscany ;  the  fires  or  "  hot 
springs"  of  Pietra,  Mala,  and  Barigazzo ;  and  lastly  those  of  the 
"  Orto  dell'  Inferno,"  the  Garden  of  Hell.* 

Before  the  year  79  a.  d.  Vesuvius  appeared  to  be  an  extinct 
volcano ;  population  and  culture  had  reached  its  summit ;  when, 
suddenly  reviving,  it  buried  Herculaneum,  Pompeii,  and  Stabiae 
under  an  enormous  mass  of  ashes  and  dust.  In  the  year  472, 
according  to  Procopius,  svich  was  the  violence  of  the  eruption,  that 
the  ashes  were  carried  by  the  winds  as  far  as  Constantinople.  In 
1794  one  of  these  streams  of  incandescent  lava,  which  are  some- 
times eight  miles  long,  from  300  to  1,200  feet  in  breadth,  and 
from  twenty-four  to  thirty  feet  in  depth,  destroyed  the  beautiful 
town  of  Torre  del  Greco.  Stones  were  hurled  to  the  distance  of 
1,300  yards ;  vegetation  far  away  was  destroyed  by  mephitic 
gases ;  and  within  a  radius  of  ten  miles  people  went  with  torches 
at  midday. 

1  Tata  {Lett,  svl  Monte  Vollnrc),  considers  this  extinct  crater  as  one  of  the  most  ter- 
rible of  pre-liistorie  Italy. 

-  The  name  of  the  town  of  Rhegium  (now  Reggio),  on  the  Strait,  signifies  "rupture." 

3  Lakes  Avernus,  Lucrine,  Albano,  Nemi,  Gabii,  Regillo,  San  Giuliano,  Bracciano,  etc. 
Earthquakes  are  still  frequent  in  the  neighborhood  of  Belluna  and  Bassano. 

*  With  regard  to  the  "Salse"  of  the  neighborhood  of  Parma,  Reggio  (di  Emilia), 
Modena,  and  Bologna,  which  are  also  called  volcanoes  of  mud,  we  must  not  confound  them 
with  true  volcanoes,  although  they  possess  some  of  the  features  of  volcanic  eruptions.  In 
the  Salse,  carburetted  hvdrogen,  the  inflannnalile  gas  of  the  marslies,  predominates. 


> 

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THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF  ITALY.  27 

Humboldt  has  observed  that  the  frequency  of  the  eruptions 
varies  inversely  with  the  size  of  the  volcano.  Since  the  crater  of 
Vesuvius  has  diminished,  its  eruptions,  though  less  violent,  have 
become  almost  animal.  Its  terrors  are  no  more,  its  curiosity  remains. 
Rich  travellers  come  from  all  jtarts,  and  the  Neapolitans,  who  have 
short  memories,  while  exhuming  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii,  say  of 
their  volcano.  "  It  is  the  mountain  which  vomits  gold." 

In  16G9  the  inhabitants  of  Catania  had  likewise  ceased  to 
believe  in  the  old  tales  of  the  fury  of  Etna,  when  an  immense 
stream  of  lava  came  doAvn  upon  their  town,  passed  through  the 
walls,  and  formed  in  the  sea  a  gigantic  mole  in  front  of  the  harbor 
Fortunately  this  formidable  volcano,  whose  base  is  113  miles  m 
circumference,  from  whose  summit  there  is  a  view  of  750  miles 
in  extent,  and  which  has  grown,  by  excessive  piles  of  lava,  to  the 
height  of  1U,870  feet,  has  very  rarely  any  eruptions.  Stromboli, 
on  the  contrary,  in  the  Lipari  Islands,  shows  from  afar  by  night 
its  diadem  of  fire,  by  day  a  dense  mantle  of  smoke. 

Enclosed  between  Etna,  Vesuvius,  and  Stromboli,  as  in  a  triangle 
of  fire.  Southern  Italy  is  often  shaken  to  her  foundations.  During 
the  last  three  centuries  no  less  than  a  thousand  earthquakes  are 
recorded,  as  if  that  part  of  the  peninsula  were  lying  on  a  bed  of 
moving  lava.  That  of  1538  ^  cleft  the  soil  near  Pozzuoli,  and  there 
came  forth  from  it  Monte  Nuovo,  459  feet  high,  which  filled  up 
the  Lucrine  Lake,  now  only  marked  by  a  small  pond.  In  1783 
the  whole  of  Calabria  was  wrecked,  and  forty  thousand  people 
perished.  The  sea  itself  shared  these  horrible  convulsions  ;  it  re- 
ceded, and  then  returned  42  feet  above  its  level.  Sometimes  new 
islands  appear  ;  thus  have  risen  one  after  another  the  Lipari  Islands. 
In  1831  an  English  man-of-war,  on  the  open  sea  off  the  coast  of 
Sicily,  felt  some  violent  shocks,  and  it  was  thought  she  had  grounded  : 
it  was  a  new  volcano  opening.  Some  days  after  an  island  appeared, 
aliout  230  feet  high.  The  English  and  the  Neapolitans  were  already 
disputing  its  ownership,  when  the  sea  took  back  in  a  storm  the 
volcano's  gift.^ 

1  Livy  speaks  (iv.  21)  of  numerous  earthquakes  in  Central  Italy  and  in  Rome  itself  in 
434.  The  overflowing  of  the  Alban  Lake  du>-ing  the  war  with  the  Veientines  is  jicrhaps 
due  to  an  event  of  this  kind. 

2  In  these  same  parts  the  cable  from  CagUari  to  Malta  was  twice  broken  iu  18.58  near 
Maretimo  by  submarine  erujitions. 


28  .  INTRODUCTION. 

For  Southern  Italy  the  claager  lies  in  subterranean  fires  ;  for 
Northern  and  Western  Italy  it  lies  in  water,  either  stagnant  and 
pestilential,  or  overflowing  and  inundating  the  country  and  filling 
ujj  the  ports  with  sand.  From  Turin  to  Venice,  in  the  rich  plain 
watered  by  the  Po,  between  the  Apennines  and  the  Alps,  not  a 
single  hill  is  to  be  seen  ;  and  consequently  the  torrents,  which  rush 
down  from  the  belt  of  snowy  mountains,  expose  it  to  dreadful 
ravages  Ijy  their  inundations.^  These  torrents  have,  indeed,  created 
the  Avhole  plain,  by  filling  up  with  alluvial  deposits  the  gulf  which 
the  Adriatic  Sea  had  formed  there,  and  whose  existence  is  proved 
by  the  remains  of  marine  animals  found  in  the  environs  of  Piacenza 
and  Milan,^  as  well  as  1)y  the  sea-fish  which  still  haunt  its  lakes. 

Springing  from  Mount  Viso,  and  rapidly  swelled  Ijy  the  waters 
which  run  down  from  the  slopes  of  the  Alpine  Giant,^  the  Po  is  the 
greatest  river  of  Italy,  and  one  of  the  most  celebrated  in  the  world. 
If  it  had  a  free  outlet  into  the  Adriatic,  it  would  open  to  navigation 
and  commerce  a  magnificent  territory.  But  the  condition  of  all 
rivers  flowing  into  seas  wliicli,  like  the  Mediterranean,  have  no 
tides,  renders  them  unfit  for  sea  navigation.  The  Italian  torrents 
bring  to  the  Po  quantities  of  mud  and  sand,  which  raise  its  bed,^ 
and  form  at  its  mouth  that  delta  before  which  the  sea  recedes 
each  year  about  22U  feet. 

Adria,  which  preceded  Venice  in  the  command  of  the  Adi-iatic, 
is  at  the  present  day  more   than  10  miles  inland  ;    Spina,  another 

1  " .    .    .    Sic  agfjerilms  niptis  quum  spiimeus  amnis, 
Exiit  o]>])ositasiiue  evioit  giirgite  moles, 
Fertiir  in  arva  furens   .    .    . 
Cum  stabiilis  armenta  tiilit." 

Vergil  :  Aeneid.  ii.  490. 
-  Kamazzini  believed  also  that  the  whole  country  of  ISIodena  covers  a  subterranean 
lake.  This  would  explain  the  prodigy,  which  startled  the  whole  Senate,  of  fish  which  came 
forth  from  the  earth  under  the  ploughshare  of  the  Boian  peasant.  Near  Narboune  there 
had  also  been  a  subterranean  lake,  where  they  used  to  fish  with  a  lance.  Cf.  Strabo,  IV.  i,  6. 
They  are  found  in  many  places. 

3  The  height  of  Mount  Viso  is  1 2,-550  feet.  The  tributaries  of  the  Po:  on  tlie  right 
bank,  the  Tanaro,  the  Trebbia,  whose  banks  have  been  the  scene  of  great  battles ;  the  Reno, 
where  was  the  Island  of  the  Triumvirs ;  on  the  left  bank,  the  Ticino,  the  Adda,  the  largest 
tributary  of  the  Po,  the  Oglio,  and  the  Wincio. 

■•  Napoleon  I.  thought  of  having  a  new  bed  dug  for  the  Po ;  for  in  its  present  state  immi- 
nent dangers  threaten  the  country  which  it  traverses  in  the  lower  part  of  its  course,  where  the 
rising  of  its  bed  has  caused  a  rise  in  the  level  of  the  waters,  which  overflow  the  surface  of  the 
country.  (De  Prony,  Recherchea  sur  le  Si/alhne  hi/flraulique  de  I'Indif.)  During  the  last  two 
centuries  only,  M.  de  Prony  has  calculated  the  jirolongation  of  the  delta  by  230  feet  a  year. 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  ITALY. 


20 


i^reat  seaport,  was  in  tlic  time  of  Stralio  30  stadia  from  tlie  coast, 
which  in  former  times  it  used  to  toucli ;  ^  and  Ravenna,  the  station 
of  the  imperial  fleet, 
18  now  surrounded  1)y 
woods  and  marshes. 
^^enice,  also,  has  too 
long  suffered  the  chan- 
nels of  its  lagoons  to 
be  stopped  up  h\  the 
alluvium  of  the  Brenta. 
The  port  of  Lido,  from 
which  the  fleet  which 
carried  forty  thousand 
Crusaders  went  forth,  is 
now  only  navigable  for 
small  boats,  and  that 
of  Albiola  is  called  the 
"  Porto  secco"  (dry  port). 

The  north-east  ex- 
tremity of  Italy  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  semicircle 
of  mountains,  which 
send  forth  to  the  Adri- 
atic several  streams, 
whose  ravine-beds  afford 
an  easy  defence  against 
any  invasion  from  the 
Julian  Alps.  Of  all 
these  oljstacles  the  last 
and  most  formidable  is 
the  Adige,  a  broad  and 
mighty  river  at  its  very 
departure  from  the 
mountains. 

In   peninsular  Italy 


AS    l>I'    ADRIA.- 


'  Strabo,  V.  i,  7.     It  had  a  treasure-house  at  Delphi,  and  is  conjectured  to  be  the  present 
village  of  Spina. 

-  We  cannot  say  whether  this  medal,  one  of  the  beautiful  bronzes  of  the  French  National 


JU 


INTRODUCTION. 


tlie  Apennines  are  too  near  both  seas 


GsrAW  ^i£,i^rd 


g2Z3 


P'"^ 


Rice  Pine  Marsheg.  Sea 

plantations  forest.  Bhore. 

I 
Scale   200,000 

PRESENT    STATE    OF    COAST    TO    THE    SOUTH    OF 
THE    5I0UTHS    OF    THE    TO. 


to   send  them  great  rivers. 
However,    the    Arno    is    75 
miles    lona;,    and   the    Tiber 
r.)()  miles.     Bnt  this  king  of 
ancient  rivers  is  sad  to  look 
at.       Its    waters,    constant- 
ly filled  with  reddish  mud, 
cannot    be    ixsed    for    drink- 
ing or  bathing;    and  in  or- 
der to  supply  the  deficiency, 
numerous  aqueducts  brought 
into    Rome     the    water    of 
tlie  neighljoring  mountains. 
Hence  one  of  the  character- 
istics of  Roman  architecture  .- 
triumphal    arches    and  mili- 
tary roads  for  the  legions; 
amphitheatres  and  aqueducts 
for    the    towns.       Moreover 
all  the  watercourses  of  the 
Apennines  have  the  capricious 

Collection,  and  which  bears  the  head  of 
a  bciirded  Bacchus,  belongs  to  Adria 
on  the  borders  of  the  Po,  or  to  that  of 
ricenum.  The  character  of  the  three 
letters  on  this  piece,  hat  (for  Iladria), 
shows  tliat  it  cannot  be  earlier  than  the 
third  century  before  our  era.  The  '■  as  " 
denoted  with  the  Romans  the  monetary 
unit.  It  ought  exactly  to  weigh  a 
Roman  pound ;  that  is,  exactly  twelve 
ounces,  or  288  scruples,  —  whence  the 
name  as  lihralls.  The  real  weight, 
liowever,  on  the  average,  is  not  more 
than  ten  ounces.  The  Romans  have 
without  doubt  kept  to  this  usage,  be- 
cause ten  ounces  of  bronze  were  worth 
in  Italy  a  scruple  of  silver,  or  -j^^  of  a 
silver  "pound.  (Mommsen's  Hist,  nf 
Roman  Coinage.) 

1  The  Adige,  250  miles  in  length, 
the  Bacchiglione  62,  the  Brenta  112, 
the  Piave  129,  the  Tagliamento  33,  the 
Isonzo  56. 


«•■•' 


.^^- 


h: 


O 


EH 

Is; 
o 


THE   GEOGRAPHY  OF  ITALY.  31 

character  of  torrents :  ^  wide  and  rapid  in  spring-time,  they  dry  np 
in  summer,  and  are  at  all  times  almost  useless  for  navigation.^  But 
how  beautiful  and  picturesque  is  the  scenery  along  the  banks  of 
their  streams,  and  in  the  valleys  where  their  tributaries  descend  ! 
The  waterfalls  of  Tivoli,  the  most  charming  of  sights,  make  a 
delightful  contrast  to  the  wild  grandeur  of  the  Roman  carapagna  ; 
and  near  Terni,  at  the  Cascade  delle  Marmore,  the  Velino  falls 
into  the  Nera  from  a  vertical  height  of  540  feet,  then  rushes  in 
cataracts  over  the  huge  bowlders  which  it  has  brought  down  from 
the  mountain. 

All  the  lakes  of  Upper  Italy  are,  like  those  of  Switzerland,  hol- 
low valleys  (Lake  Maggiore,  39  square  miles ;  Como,  3-3 ;  Iseo,  14 ; 
Garda,  34),  where  the  streams  from  the  mountains  have  accumu- 
lated till  they  have  foimd  in  the  belt  of  rocks  and  land  the 
depression  whence  they  have  made  their  escape  and  gi\-en  rise 
to  rivers.  Those  of  the  peninsula,  on  the  contrary,  tilling  up 
ancient  craters  or  mountam  basins,  have  no  natural  outlets,  and 
often  threaten,  after  long  rains,  or  the  melting  of  the  snow,  to 
inundate  the  surroundmg  country :  such  were  the  overflowing  of 
Lake  Albano,  the  signal  of  the  downfall  of  Veii,  and  those  of 
Lake  Fuciuo,  which  at  times  rose  54  feet,  and  has  lately  been 
drained.  There  are  others,  as  Lake  Bolsena,  a  kind  of  inland  sea, 
25  miles  round,  and  the  famous  Trasimene  Lake,  resulting  from  an 
earthquake.'^  The  rains  have  filled  up  these  natural  cavities,  and 
as  the  neighbormg  mountams  are  low,  they  supply  just  sufficient 
water    to    compensate   the    loss    produced    by    evaporation.       There 

1  Often  and  often  in  the  Middle  A^es  Florence — wliieli,  by  the  way,  was  built  on  a  dried- 
up  marsh  —  was  near  being  carried  away  by  the  Arno;  in  1656  Ravenna  was  flooded  by  the 
Ronco  and  the  INIontone ;  and  in  the  last  century  Bologna  and  Ferrara  have  many  times  been 
on  the  point  of  coming  to  blows,  as  the  Proven9als  and  Avignonnais  did,  on  the  subject  of 
the  Durance,  to  decide  the  spot  where  the  Reno  should  join  it.  Thanks  to  the  numerous 
cavities  where  during  the  winter  the  water  of  its  sources  stores  itself,  the  Tiber  does  not 
sink  much  at  its  summer  level. 

^  Other  watercourses  of  peninsular  Italy :  at  the  west,  the  IMagra,  the  boundary  of 
Tuscany  and  Liguria,  36  miles  in  length;  the  Clriana,  the  Nera,  and  the  Teverone  (Anio), 
tributaries  of  the  Tiber;  the  Garigliano  (Liris),  70  miles;  the  Volturno,  83;  the  Sele ;  the 
Lao:  at  the  east,  the  Pisatello  (Rubicon)  ;  theMetauro;  the  Esino;  the  Tronto,  56  miles: 
the  Pescara  (Aternus),  83 ;  the  Sangro,  83  ;  the  Biferno,  58 ;  the  Fortore,  81  ;  and  the 
Of  auto,  114. 

^  There  is  some  doubt  on  tliis  point  for  the  Lake  of  Bolsena,  which  some  travellers 
(Dennis,  Eiruria,  i.  514)  and  some  learned  men  (Delesse,  Recue  de  Gdol.  1877)  regard  as 
a  crater. 


32 


INTRODUCTION. 


hardly  issue  from  them  even  insignificant  rivers.  Lalie  Trasimene, 
at  its  greatest  depth,  does  not  reach  30  feet,  and  it  wiU  soon  have 
the  fate  of  Lake  Fucino. 


30.  u^ 


Gravepai  Ethat;a,12.r.Du^iiaf-Ttoiun. 


THE    PRESENT   CONDITION   OF    THE    PONTINE    MARSHES. 

Stagnant  waters  cover  a  part  of  the  coast  to  the  west  and  to 
the  sorrth :  it  is  the  reahn  of  fever.  The  younger  Plmy  speaks  of 
the  nnhealthiness  of  the  coasts  of  Etruria,  where  the  Maremma, 
which  the  Etruscans  had  once  drained,  was  reappearing.  In  Latmm 
tlie    sea   formerly  reached  to   the    foot  of   the   mountams   of   Setia 


THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF   ITALY. 


33 


and  Privernum,  about  9  miles  in  from  the  present  coast :  ^  from  the 
time  of  Strabo  the  whole  coast  from  Ardea  to  Antium  was  marshy 
and  unhealthy;  at  Antium  the  Pontine  Marshes  commenced.  Cam- 
pania had  the  marshes  of  JMmturnae  and  of  Linternum.  Farther 
south,  the  Greeks  of  Buxentum,  of  Elea,  of  Sybaris,  and  of  Meta- 
pontum  liad  to  dig  thousands  of  canals  to  drain  tlie  soil  before 
puttmg  in  the  plough.  Apu- 
lia, as  far  as  Mount  Vultur, 
had  been  a  vast  lagoon,  as 
well  as  the  country  around 
the  mouths  of  the  Po,  fully 
10(1  miles  south  of  its  mod- 
ern mouth  .^  Lombardy  also 
was  for  a  long  time  an  im- 
mense marsh,  and  to  the  Etruscans  are  attril)uted  the  first  em- 
bankments of  the  Po.  The  banks  of  the  Trebia,  the  territories  of 
Parma,  of  Modena,  and  of  Bologna,  had  not  been  drained  till  the 
works  of  Aemilius  Scaurus,  who  during  his  censorship  (109  B.  c.) 
made  navigable  canals  between  Parma  and  Placentia.^  There  is 
nothing  so  charming  and  so  treacherous 
as  those  plains  of  the  '' Mal'aria,"  —  a 
clear  sky,  fertile  land,  where  an  ocean 
of  verdure  waves  under  the  sea-breeze; 
all  around  there  is  calm  and  silence ; 
an  atmosphere  mild  and  warm,  which 
seems  to   Ijring  life,    but  carries  death. 


COIN    OF    lU'XEXTUM. 


COIN    OF    METAPONTUM.^ 

"  In  the  Maremma,"  says 
an  Italian  proverb,  "  one  grows  rich  in  a  year,  but  dies  in  six 
months." 


' ....     La  jMarcmiua, 
Dilettevole  molto  e  puco  sana.' 


How    many    peoples,    once    fiourisliing    and    powerful,    are    sleeping 


'  De  Prony,  Dcscr.  Hijilrnij.  ct  Hint,  ilc.i  Marais  Puntins,  pp.   73  aiicl  1 76. 

2  Pliny,  Hitl.  A'at.  iii.   20;  Cuvier,  Disc,  sur  tes  Recolutions  du  Globe,  p.  "216. 

'  In  187  B.C.  the  Consnl  Aemilius  Lepidus  continued  the  Flaminian  Road  from  Rimini 
to  Bologna  and  to  Plaeentia,  and  from  thence  to  Aquileia,  (yKVK\nvji.evoi  tu  eXrj  (Strabo,  V. 
i.  11).  In  the  year  160  B.C.  the  Consul  Ccthegus  received  as  his  )irovince  the  duty  of 
draining  the  Pontine  Marshes  (Livy,  Epiloiiii;,  xlvi). 

*  On  the  obverse,  this  medal  bears  the  head  of  the  hero  Leucippos,  the  founder  of 
the  city ;    on  the  reverse,  an  ear  of  corn  with  a  bird  on  the  leaf. 

'  Very  delightful  and  very  unwholesome. 
VOL.   I.  3 


34  INTEODUCTION. 

here  tlieir  last  sleep!  Cities  also  can  die, —  Oj^jnda  fOSse  mori, 
said  the  poet  Rutilius,  when  contemplating,  fifteen  centuries  ago, 
the  crumbling  ruins  of  a  great  town  of  Etruria. 

To  restrain  and  direct  their  streams  was  then  for  the  Italians 
not  only  a  means,  as  with  other  people,  of  gaining  lands  for  agri- 
culture, but  a  question  of  life  and  death.  These  lakes  at  the 
summit  of  mountains,  these  rivei's  overflowing  their  banks  every 
spring,  or  changing  their  Ijeds,  these  marshes,  which  under  an 
Italian  sun  so  quickly  breed  the  plague,  compelled  them  to  con- 
stant efforts.  Whenever  they  stopped,  all  that  they  had  conquered 
with  so  much  trouljle  reverted  to  its  pristine  state.^  To-day  Baiae, 
the  delightful  retreat  of  the  Roman  nobles;  Paestum,  with  its 
fields  of  roses  so  nuich  beloved  by  Ovid,  —  tcpidi  rosarla  Paesti ; 
rich  Capua,  Cumae,  which  was  once  the  most  important  city  of 
Italy,  Sybaris,  which  was  the  most  voluptuous,  are  in  the  midst  of 
stagnant  and  fetid  waters,  in  a  fever-breeding  plain,  "  Avhere  the 
decaymg  soil  consumes  more  men  than  it  can  feed."  Pestilential 
miasma,  solitude,  and  silence  have  also  conquered  the  shores  of 
the  Gulf  of  Taranto,  once  covered  with  so  many  towns ;  leprosy 
and  elephantiasis  in  Apulia  and  Calabria  exhilnt  the  hideous  dis- 
eases of  the  intertropical  regions  traversed  by  "  untamed  waters." 
In  Tuscany  120  miles  of  coast-line,  in  Latium,  82  square  miles  of 
land,  have  been  abandoned  to  poisonous  influences.  Here  the 
wrath  of  man  has  aided  that  of  Nature.  Rome  had  ruined  Etruria 
and  exterminated  the  Volscians.  But  water  invaded  the  depopu- 
lated country ;  the  malaria,  extending  gradually  from  Pisa  to  Ter- 
racina,  reached  Rome  herself ;  and  the  Eternal  City  expiates  now, 
in  the  midst  of  her  wastes  and  her  unhealthy  climate,  the  merciless 
war  waged  by  her  legions.^  At  the  point  where  but  lately  the 
Maremma  of  Tuscany  and  that  of  the  States  of  the  Church  join, 
the  saddest  of  solitudes  meets  the  eye:  not  a  hut  nor  a  tree  to 
be  seen,  but  huge  fields  of  asphodel,  —  the  flower  of  the  tomb.  One 
day,  about  fifty  years  ago,  a  vault,  hidden  under  the  grass,  gave 
way  under  the  heavy  tread  of  an  ox:  it  was  a  funeral  chamber. 
Excavations    were   prosecuted.      In    a   little    time    2,000    vases  and 

1  Muratori  {Rcr.  Hal.  Script,  ii.  691,  and  Ant.  Ilul  diax.  '_'!)  has  sliown  how  quickly  the 
drained  lands  become  marshy  again,  as  soon  as  cultivation  is  suspended. 

'■^  Cicero,  de  Rep.  ii.  6,  said  of  Rome :  "  Locum  ....  in  regione  pcstilenti  salubrem ; " 
and  Livy,  v.  54,  "  saluberrimos  colles." 


THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF   ITALY.  35 

other  objects  of  art  were  discovered,'  and  Etru.scan  civilization  was 
reclaimed  from  oblivion. 

The  name  of  the  rich  city  which  had  l^nried  so  many  marvels 
in  its  tombs  is  not  mentioned  by  any  of  the  Roman  historians, 
and  must  have  remained  unknown  l)ut  for  an  inscription  which 
mentioned  its  defeat  and  the  trimuph  of  its  conqueror.^  The  Vul- 
cientes  had  fought  the  last  battle  for  Etruscan  liberty.  How  heavy 
were  the  hands  of  Rome  and  of  Time,  and  how  many  flourishing 
cities  they  have  destroyed  !  But  again,  how  many  wonders  does 
the  Italian  soil  reserve  for  the  future,  when  the  malaria  is  expelled, 
and  the  towns  it  has  slain  shall  deliver  up  their  secrets.^ 

Bordering  on  the  great  Alps,  and  reaching  to  Africa,  Italy  has 
every  climate,  and  can  have  all  kinds  of  culture.  In  this  double 
respect  she  is  divided  into  four  regions :  the  Valley  of  the  Po,  the 
slopes  of  the  Apennines  turned  towards  the  Tuscan  Sea,  the  plains 
of  the  Peninsula,  and  the  two  points  in  which  it  terminates.* 

1  M.  Noel  des  Vergers  has  naiTated  with  eli>i|uence  the  eraiition  he  felt  when,  in  an 
exca\ation  that  he  made  in  the  same  necropolis  of  Vulci  :  "  At  tin'  last  blow  of  the  ])ick,  the 
stone  which  formed  the  entrance  to  the  cryjit  gave  way,  and  the  light  of  the  torclies  illu- 
mined vaults  where  nothing  had  for  more  than  twenty  centuries  disturbed  darkness  and 
silence.  Everything  was  still  in  the  same  state  as  on  the  day  when  the  entrance  had  been 
walled  up,  and  ancient  Etruria  arose  to  our  view  in  the  days  of  her  splendor.  On  their 
funeral  couches  warriors,  covered  with  their  armor,  seemed  to  be  resting  after  the  battles 
they  had  fought  with  the  Romans  or  with  om-  ancestors,  the  Gauls ;  forms,  dresses,  stuffs, 
and  colors  were  visible  for  a  few  minutes;  then  all  vanished  as  the  outer  air  penetrated  into 
the  crypt,  where  our  flickering  torches  threatened  at  first  to  be  extinguished.  It  was  a 
calhng  up  of  the  past  which  lasted  not  even  the  brief  moment  of  a  dream,  and  passed  away, 
as  it  were,  to  punish  us  for  our  rash  curiosity. 

["  Like  that  loug-ljuried  l)ody  of  the  king 
Fonnil  lying  with  liis  urns  and  ornaments, 
Which,  at  a  touch  of  liglit,  au  air  of  heaven, 
Slipped  iuto  ashes,  and  was  found  no  more." 

Tennyson  :  Aylmer's  Field.] 

While  these  frail  remains  crumbled  into  dust  in  contact  with  the  air,  the  atmosphere  became 
clearer.  AVe  then  saw  ourselves  surrounded  hy  another  population  due  to  the  artists  of 
Etruria.  Mural  paintings  adorned  the  crypt  all  round,  and  seemed  to  come  to  life  with  the 
flash  of  our  torches." 

2  Fast.  Capit.,  ad  ann.  473.  Triumph  of  T.  Coruucanius  in  280  for  his  victories  over  the 
Vulcientes  and  Volsinienses. 

*  Those  unhealthy  countries,  where  a  thick  vegetation  covers  the  ruins,  protect  so  well 
against  curiosity  even  the  monuments  which  are  there,  that  a  century  ago  the  temples  of 
Paestum  were  not  kuo%vn,  and  also  a  few  years  ago,  the  curious  necropolis  of  Castel  d'  Asso, 
of  Norchia,  and  of  Soana. 

*  In  antiquity  Italy  abounded  more  in  woods  and  marshes,  and  the  winter  was  colder. 
[Tliis  is  proved,  for  historical  times,  not  only  by  aUusions  like  Horace's  "  Vides  ut  alta  stet 
nivc  candidum  Soracte,"  etc.,  but  by  the  researches  of  Hehn  in  his  well-known  work  on  the 
spread  of  domestic  animals  and  plants  in  antiquity. — Ed-I 


3G  INTBODUCTIOJSr. 

Calabria,  Apulia,  and  part  of  the  coast  of  the  Abruzzi  have 
almost  the  sky  and  the  productions  of  Africa  :  a  climate  clear  and 
dry,  but  scorching ;  the  palm-tree,  which  at  Reggio  sometimes 
ripens  its  fruit,  the  aloes,  the  medlar,  the  orange,  and  the  lemon ; 
on  tlie  coast  the  olives,  whicli  are  the  source,  as  formerly,  of  the 
wealth  of  the  country;  farther  up,  for  two  thousand  feet,  forests 
of  chestnut-trees  covering  a  part  of  the  Sila.  But  from  Pisa  to 
the  middle  of  Campania,  between  the  sea  and  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tains, the  malaria  reigns  ;  the  soil  is  abandoned  to  herdsmen,  and 
although  very  fertile,  waits  for  the  labor  of  man  to  produce  its  old 
return.  Already  in  Tuscany  tenant-farming  is  driving  back  the 
Maremma,  and  the  land  is  peopled  again  wherever  it  is  drained. 

Above  these  plains,  on  the  first  slopes  of  the  Apennines,  from 
Provence  to  Calaljria,  there  extends  the  district  of  the  olive,  the 
mulberry-tree,  the   arbutus,   the   myrtle,   the   laurel,   and  the  vine. 

This  latter  grows  so  freely  that  it 
may  be  seen  reaching  the  top  of  the 
poplars  which  support  it ;  and  in  the 
time  of  Pliny  a  statue  of  Jupiter 
used  to  be  shown  at  Populonia  carved 
in  a  vine-trunk.     Farther  up,  on  the 

COIN    OF    POPULONIA.^  _  ^ 

mountain,  come  chestnut-trees,  oaks, 
and  elms ;  then  fir-trees  and  larch.  The  summer  snow  and  the 
freezing  Avind  remind  one  of  Switzerland,  but  for  the  flood  of 
dazzling  light  from  the  Italian  sky. 

But  it  is  in  the  Valley  of  the  Po,  when  coming  down  from  the 
Alps,  that  the  traveller  receives  his  first  and  most  pleasant  im- 
pressions. From  Turin,  as  far  as  Milan,  he  keeps  in  view  the  line 
of  tlie  glaciers,  which  the  setting  sun  colors  with  brilliant  tints 
of  rose  and  purple,  and  makes  them  glitter  like  a  magnificent  con- 
flagration spreading  along  the  sides  and  on  the  summits  of  the 
mountains.  In  spite  of  the  vicinity  of  the  perpetual  snow,  the  cold 
does  not  descend  far  on  this  rapid  slope ;  and  when  the  sun  bursts 
forth  in  the  immense  amphitheatre  of  the  Valley  of  the  Po,  its 
rays,  arrested  and  reflected  by  the  wall  of  the  Alps,  raise  the  tem- 

1  On  the  obverse,  the  bead  of  Minei-va  with  behiiet;  on  the  reverse,  a  crescent  and  a 
star  with  the  word  pvplv  written  from  right  to  left  in  Etruscan  characters.  Puplu  was 
the  commencement  of  the  name  Poinilonia. 


o 


o 

I 

w 


THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF   ITALY.  87 

perature,  and  scorching  heat  succeeds  suddenly  the  cold  air  of  the 
lofty  summits.  But  the  number  of  the  streams,  the  rapidity  of 
their  courses,  the  direction  of  the  valley,  which  opens  on  the  Adri- 
atic and  receives  all  its  breezes,  cool  the  atmosphere,  and  give 
Lombardy  a  most  delightful  climate.  The  inexhaustible  fertility 
of  the  soil,  enriched  by  the  deposits  of  so  many  rivers,  causes 
everywhere  a  very  rich  vegetation.  In  one  night,  it  is  said,  grass 
which  has  been  cut  shoots  up  afresh ;  ^  and  the  land,  which  no 
culture  exhausts,  never  lies  fallow. 

Such  is  the  general  aspect  of  Italy,  —  a  land  of  continual  con- 
trasts :  plains  and  mountains,  snow  and  scorching  heat,  dry  and 
raging  torrents.  Limpid  lakes  formed  in  ancient  craters,  and  pesti- 
lential marshes  concealing  beneath  the  herbage  once  populous  cities. 
At  every  step  a  contrast :  the  vegetation  of  Africa  at  the  foot  of 
the  Apennines ;  on  their  summits  the  vegetation  of  the  North. 
Here,  under  the  clearest  sky,  the  malaria,  bringing  death  in  one 
night  to  the  sleeping  traveller ;  there,  lands  of  inexhaustible  fer- 
tility,^ and  above,  the  volcano  with  its  threatening  lava.  Else- 
where, in  the  space  of  a  few  leagues,  sixty-nine  craters  and  three 
entombed  towns.  At  the  north,  rivers  which  inundate  the  lands 
and  repel  the  sea ;  at  the  south,  earthquakes  opening  unfathomable 
depths  or  overthrowing  mountains.  Every  climate,  every  property 
of  the  soil  combined,  —  in  short,  a  reduced  picture  of  the  ancient 
world,^  yet  with  its  natural  peculiarities  strongly  marked. 

1  '•  Et  qu.antum  longis  carpent  armenta  diebus 
Exigua  tantum  gelidus  ros  nocte  reponet." 

Veegil  :   Oeorgics,  ji.  201. 
Varro  (tie  Be  i-ust.  i.  7)  said   more   prosaically,  "  In   the   jJaiii  of  Rosea  let   fall  a  stake, 
to-morrow  it  is  hidden  in  the  grass." 

2  In  Etruria  and  in  some  other  jiarts  of  Italy  the  land  produced  15-foId,  and  else- 
where 10-fold  (Varro,  de  Re  rust.  i.  44).  The  fertiUty  of  the  ground  of  Sybaris,  like  that 
of  Cam]iania,  was  jiroverbial :  it  used  to  be  said  that  it  returned  100-fold.  [And  even  now 
the  traveller  is  delighted  with  the  sudden  dis])lay  of  rich  pasture  in  the  Valley  of  the  Crati, 
and  with  the  splendid  herds  of  cattle  roaming  through  its  meadows  and  forests.  Nowhere 
in  Southern  Italy  is  there  such  verdure.  —  JSrf.] 

*  This  can  be  maintained  without  any  systematic  survey.  Has  not  Italy  the  sun  of 
Africa;  the  valleys  and  mountains  of  Greece  and  Spain;  the  thick  forests,  the  plains,  the 
marshes  of  Gaul ;  indented  coasts  and  harbors  like  Asia  IMinor ;  and  even  the  valley  of 
the  Nile  in  that  of  the  Po?  Both  are  the  jiroduct  of  these  rivers,  with  their  delta,  their 
lagoons,  and  their  great  maritime  cities,  Adria  or  Venice,  Alexandria  or  Damietta,  accord- 
ing to  the  age.  "The  Veneti,"  says  Strabo  (V.  i.  5),  "had  constructed  in  their  lagoons, 
canals  and  dikes  like  those  of  Lower  Egypt."  In  another  passage  Ravenna  recalls  to  him 
Alexandria.     See  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  the  sixth  book  the  different  causes  he  assigns  for 


38  ,  INTRODUCTIOK 

In  the  midst  of  this  nature,  capricious  and  fickle,  Ijut  every- 
where energetic  for  good  as  for  evil,  there  appear  peoples  whose 
diversity  of  origin  will  be  stated  in  the  following  pages ;  but  we 
know  already,  by  the  study  of  the  Italian  soil,  that  the  popu- 
lation, placed  in  conditions  of  territory  and  climate  varying  with 
each  canton,  will  not  be  moulded  by  any  one  of  those  physical 
influences  whose  action,  always  the  same,  produced  civilizations 
uniform  and  impervious  to  external  influences. 

In  this  general  description  of  Italy  we  have  only  glanced  in 
passing  at  the  hills  of  Rome,  which,  notwithstanding  their  modest 
size,  surpass  in  renown  the  proudest  suinmits  of  the  world.  They 
deserve  careful  study.  The  earth  is  a  great  book,  wherein  science 
studies  revolutions  beside  which  those  of  man  are  but  child's-play. 
When  the  geologist  examines  the  soil  of  Rome  and  its  environs, 
he  finds  it  formed,  like  the  rest  of  the  peninsula,  from  the  two- 
fold action  of  volcanoes  and  water.  Remains  have  there  been 
found  of  the  elephant,  the  mastodon,  the  rhinoceros,  and  the  hip- 
popotamus,—  proving  that  at  a  certain  period  of  geological  time 
Latium  formed  a  part  of  a  vast  continent  with  an  African  tem- 
perature, and  one  in  which  great  rivers  ran  through  vast  plains. 
At  another  epoch,  when  the  glaciers  descended  so  far  into  the 
Valley  of  the  Po  that  their  moraines  were  not  far  from  the  Adri- 
atic, the  Tuscan  Sea  covered  the  Roman  plain.  It  formed  in  it  a 
semitircular  gulf,  of  which  Soracte  and  the  Promontory  of  Circei 
were  the  headlands.^ 

At  the  laottom  of  this  primordial  sea  volcanoes  burst  forth, 
and  their  liquid  lava  was  deposited  by  the  water  in  horizontal 
beds,  which,  at  the  present  day,  from  Rome  as  far  as  Radicofani, 
are  found  mingled  with  organic  remains.  When  this  lava  has 
become  solidified  by  time  and  the  action  of  water,  it  becomes  the 
peperino,  the  close-grained  tvfo  of  which  Rome,  both  under  the 
Kings    and   the  Republic,  was  built.     When  the  lava  remains  in  a 

the  superiority  of  Italy.  It  has  even  been  estabhshed  that  all  the  geological  formations 
are  represented  in  Italy ;  and  although  mining  operations  are  not  well  prosecuted,  they  give 
rise  to  an  annual  exportation  of  (iOO,000  tons  of  the  value  of  100  millions  (of  francs). 

'  It  is  considered  that  the  Campagna  di  Roma  from  Civita  Vecchia  to  Terracina  is 
91  miles  in  length,  and  that  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  mountains  its  breadth  is  more 
than  27  miles.  As  far  inland  as  Rome,  the  mountains  are  in  some  parts  distant  only 
from  three  to  five  miles.  The  Anio  falls  into  the  Tiber  at  less  than  three  miles'  distance 
from  Rome. 


THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF  ITALY. 


39 


granulous  state  it  produces  the  pozzolana,  from  which  was  made 
the  tenacious  cement  of  the  Roman  walls.  Of  this  pozzolana  the 
Seven  Hills,  on  the  left  bank,  are  formed.       The  Capitol  alone  is 


•IjprcslACarU  de  l^Uit -Major  An&idiicn. 


Grove  {>Ar£rlurd. 


Scale     agtooo 


EXTINCT  VOLCANOES  ABOUT  ALBA. 


alnii)st  entirely  composed  of  a  porous  tufo;  a  more  solid  substance 
seemed  needed  for  the  hill  which  was  destined  to  be  the  throne 
of  the  world.^ 

When  the  formidable  volcanoes  of   the  Alban  Hills   had  lifted 

*  Ampere,  L'Histoire  Romalne  a  Rome,  i.  8. 


40 


INTKODUCTION. 


Latium  above  the  sea,  the  lava  which  came  from  their  craters 
spread  over  the  sides  of  the  mountain,  and  one  of  the  hot  streams 
descended  across  the  new  plain  as  far  as  Capo  di  Bove.'  From 
this  la^-a,  Avhen  consolidated,  Rome  procured  the  flagstones  with 
which  she  paved  the  Appian  Road,  and  which  remain  to  this  day. 

The  Roman  campagna,  formed  in  the  midst  of  waters,  whose 
gentle  vmdulations  or  level  surface  it  reproduces  in  turn,  changed 
afterward  by  the  volcanoes  of  the  Alban  Hills,  is  furrowed  by 
little  hills  and  low  ground,  —  "a  humpy  soil,"  said  Montaigne,  whose 


CATTLE    OF    THE    ROMAN   CAMPAGNA. 


cavities  are  filled  Avith  fresh  water 
now    they    are    unhealthy    pools ;  ^ 
attributes  to  the  influence  of  the 


Once  they  were  limpid  lakes : 

and     a,    learned    man,    Brocclii, 

arki  catttra  the  gloomy,  violent, 


1  Brocchi,  Dclln  stalo  /sico  del  sunio  di  Roma.  Capo  di  Bove  is  tlie  part  of  the 
Appian  Road  where  is  the  tomb  of  C'aecilia  Metella,  the  frieze  of  which  bears  heads  of 
oxen,  in  remembrance  of  the  sacrifices  made  before  the  tomb. 

-  The  season  of  [malaria]  fever  [typhoid,  now  so  common,  is  apparently  a  new  scourge 
to  the  city,  arising  from  modern  causes  — £</.]  extends  from  June  to  October.  Horace 
especially  dreaded  the  autumn  (Od.  II.  xiv.  1.5;  Sat.  II.  vi  19:  see  also  Ep.  I.  vii.  5). 
M.  Colin,  the  chief  physician  of  the  French  army,  attributes  the  malaria  in  the  Campagna 
di  Roma  less  to  the  effluvia  of  the  marshes,  since  the  Pontine  Mar.shes  do  not  reach  so  far, 
than  to  the  exhalations  from  a  soil,  very  fertile  and  untilled,  under  a  sky  of  fiery  heat 
during  the  da}-time,  from  July  to  October,  and  comparatively  very  moist  and  cold  during 
the  night.     (Traite  dcs  Jievres  interini/lenles,  1870.) 


I  I  I  ,  I 

'I  iM 
I 


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(i. 
O 


THE   GEOGRAPHY   OE  ITALY.  41 

and  irritable  temper  of  those  who  carr}^  in  their  veins  the  germs 
of  the  fever  of  the  Maremma.  This  has  Ijecn  noticed  by  all 
travellers;  while,  under  a  beautiful  sky,  and  on  the  shore  of  the 
bright  sea  of  the  Gulf  of  Naples,  the  people  are  merry,  playful, 
and  noisy,  the  people  of  Rome,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  midst 
of  their  majestic  and  stern  country,  are  gloomy,  silent,  and  prompt 
with  the  knife.  We  shall  find  this  harshness  of  character  running- 
through  the  whole  history  of  Rome ;  for  though  man  may  call 
himself  intelligent  and  free,  the  surrounding  influences  of  nature 
impress  their  mark  upon  him,  and  for  the  majority  this  mark  is 
indelible. 

We  might  assert  the  same  influences  for  all  animals  alike ;  for 
the  buffaloes  and  great  oxen  with  formidable  horns,  which  wander 
about  the  country  of  Roman  campagua  are  as  savage  as  the  herds- 
men who  drive  them ;  and  it  is  dangerous  for  a  stranger  to  venture 
near  them. 

While  the  volcano  was  fiirnishing  Rome  with  indestructible 
paving  for  her  military  roads,  the  waterfalls  of  Tivoli,  larger  then 
than  they  are  now,  and  the  waters  of  the  neighboring  lakes,  sat- 
urated with  carbonic  acid  or  sulphurated  Iwdrogen,  formed  the 
travertino,  —  a  light  and  whitish  limestone,  Avliich  hardens  in  the 
air  and  takes  warm  and  orange-colored  tints.  With  this  stone 
Rome  built  all  her  temples,  the  Coliseum,  and  other  monuments 
of  the  Empire. 

The  architecture  of  a  nation  depends  on  the  materials  which 
it  has  at  hand.  The  bricks  give  London  its  dulness,  while  Paris 
owes  its  elegance  to  the  French  limestone,  so  easy  to  handle. 
Marble  made  Athens  sparkling  with  beauty.  Rome  was  severe 
with  her  grayish  ^:)eper{«o,  massive  with  her  travertino  cut  in 
large  blocks,  until  the  time  came  when  she  was  able,  with  the 
costly  marbles  unloaded  at  Ostia,  to  indulge  in  all  the  splen- 
dors of  architecture ;  "  so  that  her  very  ruins  are  glorious,  and 
still  does  she  retain,  in  her  tomb,  the  marks  and  image  of  her 
empire  "  (Montaigne). 

The  Tiber  was  much  larger  than  it  is  at  the  present  day ; 
for  it  received  then  all  the  Chiana,  perhaps  a  part  of  the  Arno, 
and  carried  to  the  sea,  with  the  streams  of  the  Sabine  territory, 
those   of   a   great   part   of    the   Tuscan  Apennines.      A   large   and 


42 


INTRODUCTION. 


deep  luke  once  covered  the  site  of  Rome ;  and  on  the  Pincian, 
Esquiline,  Aventine,  and  Capitoline  Hills,  fluvial  shells  are  found, 
130  to  160  feet  above  the  present  Tiller. 

The  river,  barred  probably  by  the  Hills  of  Decimo,  had  accu- 
mulated its  waters  behind  that  obstacle,  which  at  length  it  suc- 
ceeded in  sweeping  away. 

Man  appeared  early  on  this  soil.  In  the  post-tertiary  strata  of 
the  basin  of  Rome  his  remains  are  found,  and  some  cut  or  polished 

flints  along  with  the  bones  of  the  Cervus 
clqjlias,  of  the  reindeer,  and  of  the  Bos  pri- 
migenius}  Implements  of  stone  were  fol- 
lowed, as  everywhere,  by  implements  of 
bronze.  Man,  then  armed,  was  able  to  con- 
tend against  the  fauna,  and  afterward  against 
Nature  herself.  But  many  centuries  passed 
before  his  efforts  produced  any  useful  effects. 
In  the  first  days  of  Rome  the  Forum, 
the  Campus  Martins,  the  Velabrum,  the  val- 
ley between  the  Aventine  and  the  Palatine 
Hills  ( ValUs  Mureia),  which  ultimately  the 
FLINT  WEAPONS  FOUND  IN    Qlrcus  Maxlmus  filled  up  entirely,  —  in  short, 

all  the  low-lying  lands  at  the  foot  of  the 
Seven  Hills,  —  were  marsh  lands,  where  the  river  often  returned, 
and  where  it  still  returns.  It  is  from  a  slough  that  the  most 
beautiful  city  in  the  world  was  destined  to  rise. 

For  the  purpose  of  self-defence  the  CapitoHne  and  Aventine 
were  secure  refuges ;  but  in  order  to  live  and  spread,  she  must 
descend  from  the  hills  and  overcome  the  wandering  or  stagnant 
waters  over  which  already  the  malaria  began  to  hover.  Fever 
had  early  an  altar  on  the  Palatine,  where  they  attempted,  by 
prayer  and  sacrifices,  to  charm  away  its  fatal  influence.^  But 
though  superstitious,  the  people  were  also  energetic.      What-  they 

1  Bull,  de  I'Inst.  arch.,  18G7,  \>.  4,  and  the  Alln.^,  viii.  38.  M.  Capellini  believes  he  has 
found  quite  recently  (1870)  in  Tuscany  traces  of  Pliocene  man. 

2  Alias  de  I'Inst.  arche'ol.,  viii.  36. 

8  For  the  Latins  the  Fever  was  the  God  Februus,  to  whom  was  consecrated  the  month 
of  February,  durinfj  which  purificatory  sacrifices  were  offered ;  hence  the  verb  fehruare,  to 
purify.  [Yet  surely  it  seems  strange  that  so  healthy  a  month  should  be  chosen  for  this 
purpose.  It  may  be  connected  with  ceremonies  at  the  end  of  the  old  year,  when  the  1st 
of  March  was  New  Year's  Day.  —  Ed."] 


THE   GEOGKArilY   OF   ITALY. 


43 


asked  from  the  gods  they  were  ready  to  demand  from  their  toil ; 
and  this  struggle  against  Nature  prepared  the  way  for  the  struggle 
against    men.       In    this  work   of    improving   the    Roman    soil    they 


ARTICLES    IX    TERRA-COTT.\    FOUND    IN    THE    ENVIRONS    OF    ROME.^ 


were  helped  by  the  Etruscans,  who  knew  how  to  drain  marshy 
plains  and  to  build  imperishable  monuments  for  the  leading  away 
of  subterranean  waters.  The  entrance  of  Etruscan  art  into  Rome 
was  a  geographical  necessity,  as  also  was  the  laborious  and  rough 
life  of  the  first  Romans.  With  art  many  also  of  the  civil  and 
religious  institutions  of  Etruria  migrated  to  Rome. 

*  Alias  de  I'ltist.  arche'ol.,  viii.  37. 


44  INTEODUCTION. 


n. 

THE  ANCIENT  POPULATION  OP  ITALY  -  PELASGIANS  AND  UMBEIANS. 

HTTALY  has  not,  like  France,  England,  Germany,  and  Scandinavia, 
-*-  preserved  numerous  traces  of  a  race  anterior  to  tlie  epoch  in 
which  man  had  learned  to  furrow  the  earth  with  implements  of 
metal ;  at  least,  as  far  as  our  researches  have  reached,  it  seems 
to  have  possessed  only  in  cei'tain  spots  what  has  been  called  the 
age  of  stone.'  Separated  from  the  rest  of  the  world  l)y  the  Alps 
and  the  sea,  it  was  peopled  later  than  the  vast  countries  of  easy 
access  which  lie  on  the  east,  north,  and  west  of  its  mountains. 
But  when  these  regions  were  once  inhabited  Italy  became  the 
country  of  Europe  where  the  greatest  number  of  foreign  races 
have  met  together.  All  the  surrounding  nations  contributed  their 
share  in  forming  the  population  ;  and  each  revolution  which  dis- 
turbed them  produced  a  new  people.  The  Sicanians  were  formerly 
derived  from  Spain ;  now  they  are  identified  with  the  Pelasgic 
Siculi.^  But  from  Gaul  came  the  Ligurians,  the  Senonian,  the 
Boian,  the  Insubrian,  and  the  Cenomanian  Celts  ;  from  the  great 
Alps,  the  Etruscans  ;  from  the  Julian  Alps,  the  Veneti  ;  from  the 
eastern  coast  of  the  Adriatic  Seas  and  from  the  Peloponnesus 
many  Illyrian  and  Pelasgic  tribes ;  from  Greece,  those  Hellenic 
tribes  which  came  in  so  great  numbers  into  Southern  Italy  as  to 
give  to  that  part  the  name  of  Great  Greece ;  from  Asia  Minor, 
the  Lydian  Pelasgians ;  lastly,  from  the  coasts  of  Syria  and  Africa, 
the  more  certain  colonies  which  Tjre  and  Carthage  established  in 
the  two  great  Italian  islands.^  And  if  we  were  to  trust  to  the 
patriotic   pride    of   one    of    her   historians,'*    Etriiria   would    owe    to 

'  However,  pi-ehistoric  discoveries  occur  daily  in  tlie  Campagna  di  Roma,  in  Tuscany, 
and  from  the  Valteline,  as  far  as  Leuca,  at  tlie  extremity  of  Italy,  where  M.  Botti  Ulderico 
has  discovered  "rottoes  which  have  served  as  shelters  for  primitive  man. 

'  Cf.   Benloew,  Etudes  Alhanoisi:.''. 

"  [We  may  add  at  least  Agylla  (Caere),  in  Etruria,  whose  name,  as  Mommsen  has 
shown,  declares  its  origin.  —  Ed-I 

*  Micali,  Storia  ijegli  anticU  popoH  Ilaliani,  i.  142 ;  cf.  Freret,  "  Recherches  sur  1  'origine 
et  I'histoire  des  differents  peuples  d'ltaUe,"  Hist,  de  I' Acad,  dcs  inscr.,  xvii.  72-114. 


PELASGIANS   AND   UIVIBRIANS. 


45 


Egypt  and  the  distant  East  lier  religious  creeds,  her  arts,  and  her 
sacerdotal  government. 

Italy  was,  therefore,  a  ccjnimon  asylum  for  all  the  wanderers  of 
the  ancient  world.  All  brought  in  with  them  their  language  and 
their  customs ;  many  preserved  their  native  character  and  their 
independence,  until  from  the  midst  of  them  there  should  arise  a 
city  which  formed  at  tlieir  cost  her  population,  her  laws,  and 
her  religion,  —  Rome  herself,  the  asylum  of  all  races  and  of  all 
Italian  civilizations !  ^ 

All  the  Italian  races  belonged  to  the  great  Indo-European 
family,  which  came  from  the  high  regions  of  Central  Asia  and 
gradually  peopled  a  part  of  Western  Asia  and  the  whole  of 
Europe.  When  they  penetrated  into  the  peninsula,  they  had  already 
arrived  at  that  degree  of  civilization  which  stood  midway  between 
the  pastoral,  or  nomad,  and  the 
agricultural,  or  settled,  state.  The 
most  ancient  geographical  names 
are  a  proof  of  this :  Oenotria  was 
the  country  of  the  vme ;  Italy 
(vitulus),  that  of  oxen ;  the  Opici 
meant  "  laborers  of  the  fields  ; " 
and  the  first  means  of  excliange 
were  cattle,  ^jccm*-,  —  whence  pecunia.  Sybaris,  like  Buxentum, 
seems  to  have  wished  to  preserve  this  remembrance.  One  of  her 
coins  bears  on  both  sides  the  imas;e  of  an  ox.^ 

The   most   ancient  of   these  nations  seem   to  have  belonaed  to 


COIN    OK     STBARIS. 


'  We  must  say  that  these  questions  of  origin  and  relationsliip  are  among  the  historical 
controversies  which  are  still  being  argued  every  day.  The  evidence  for  and  against  is  so 
mixed,  that  both  sides  can  accumulate  contrary  (juotations  and  interpretations,  so  that  this 
mass  of  doubtful  proofs  rather  fatigues  than  enlightens  the  mind.  Niebuhr  says,  as  regards 
one  of  these  peoples  :  "  ^Vhat  abuses  of  imagination  were  not  indulged  in  with  regard  to  the 
mysteries  and  wisdom  of  the  Pelasgiansl  Their  very  name  is  an  abomination  to  the  truthful 
an<l  serious  historian.  It  is  this  disgust  which  kept  me  from  making  anv  general  references  to 
that  people,  lest  I  might  open  the  floodgates  for  a  new  deluge  of  writing  about  this  wretched 
subiect."  But  later  on  he  himself  could  not  resist  "  that  inclination  which  led  him,  Uke  most 
of  Ids  countrymen,  to  guess  out  lost  history ; "  and  the  Pelasgians  obtained  from  liim  sixty 
l)ages.  The  most  recent  and  complete  work  on  the  ancient  populations  of  Italy  is  that  of 
.Schwegler  (BSmisclie  Gcschichle,  i.  1.54-384).  [A  valuable  book,  obscured,  like  our  Thirhvall, 
by  the  lirilliancy  of  a  more  passionate,  but  less  trustworthy,  rival.  —  J?(/.] 

'^  Some  Samnite  coins,  struck  during  the  Social  War,  have  also  Vilelu  inscribed  in  place 
of  Tialia.  It  is  perhaps  in  a  letter  of  Decimus  Brutus  to  Cicero  (Fam.  xi.  20)  that  the  earliest 
mention  is  made  of  the  name  of  Italy  as  applied  to  the  entire  peninsula  as  far  as  the  Alps. 


46  INTRODUCTION. 

the  mysterious  race  of  the  Pelasgians,^  whom  one  finds  confusedly 
at  the  commencement  of  so  many  histories,  though  tliere  is  notliing 
left  of  it  hut  its  name  and  its  indestructihle  buildings.  After 
having  carried  its  industry  and  activity  into  Greece  and  its  islands, 
into  Macedonia  and  Epirus,  into  Italy,  and  perhaps  into  Spain, 
the  race  disappeared,  pursued,  according  to  the  ancient  legend,  by 
the  celestial  powers,  and  suffering  endless  misfortunes. 

At  the  commencement  of  historic  times  nothing  but  uncertain 
remains  of  that  great  people  are  found,  as  we  discover,  in  the 
bosom  of  the  earth,  the  mutilated  remains  of  primitive  creations. 
It  is  a  whole  buried  world,  —  a  civilization  arrested,  and  then 
calumniated  by  the  victorious  tribes  after  they  have  destroyed  it. 
Their  altars  were  stained,  they  say,  with  the  Ijlood  of  human 
sacrifices,  and,  in  a  vow,  they  offered  a  tithe  of  their  children. 
The  priests  directed  at  their  will  the  clouds  and  tempests ;  they 
summoned  the  snow  and  the  hail,  and  by  their  magic  power  they 
changed  the  form  of  objects ;  they  were  acquainted  with  fatal 
charms ;  they  fascinated  men  and  plants  by  their  glance ;  on 
animals  and  on  trees  they  poured  the  deadly  water  of  the  Styx ; 
they  knew  how  to  heal,  and  how  to  compose  subtle  poisons. 
Thus  in  the  mythologies  of  the  North  the  Cloths  have  consigned 
the  Finns,  whom  they  had  dispossessed,  to  the  extremities  of  the 
earth  under  the  forms  of  industrious  dwarfs  and  of  formidaljle 
magicians.  Like  the  Pelasgians,  the  Finns  open  mines  and  work 
metals ;  and  it  is  they  who  forge  for  the  Odinic  gods  the  invincible 
shackles  of  the  wolf  Fenris,  as  Vulcan,  the  Pelasgic  god,  hud 
made,  for  new  divinities  also,  the  chains  of  Prometheus. 

It  seems,  then,  that  there  were  at  the  north  and  at  the  south 
of  Europe  two  gi-eat  nations  who  knew  the  earliest  arts,  aiid  com- 
menced this  struggle  against  physical  nature  which  our  modern 
civilization  continues  with  so  much  success.  But  both  were 
subdued  and  cursed  after  their  defeat  by  the  warlike  tribes, 
who  looked  upon  work  as  servile  labor,  and  made  slavery  the  law 
of  the  ancient  world. 

In  Italy,  where  their  first  colonies  settled  at  a  remote  epoch, 
the  Pelasgians  covered,  under  various  names,  the  greater  part  of 
the  coast.     At  the  north,  in  the  low  plains  of  the  Po,  and  along 

>  "Pelasgi  primi  Italiam  teuuisse  perhibcntur  "  (Serv.  in  Aen.  viii.  GOO). 


PELASGIC    REMAINS. 
1.  Boviaiium.     2.  Volaterrae.     S.  Lista.     4.  Olivano.     5.   Veii.     6.  Siguia.     7,  Arpimiii 


PELASGIANS   AND   UMBEIANS.  49 

the  western  coast  fi'om  the  Arno,  there  were  Siculi,  tlie  founders 
of  Tibur,  a  district  of  which  was  called  the  Sicelion ;  ^  at  the  south- 
west, the  Chonians,  Morgetes,  and,  above  all,  Oenotriaus,  who  had, 
like  the  Dorians  of  Sparta,  public  meals ;  at  the  south-east, 
Daunians,  Peucetians,  and  Messapians,  divided  into  Calabrians  and 
Salentines,  and  said  by  tradition  to  come  from  Crete ;  at  the  east, 
lastly,  Liburnians,  of  that  Ilhrian  race  which  wc  must  perhaps 
identify  with  the  Pelasgic.^ 

The  Tyrrhenians  were  probaljly  one  of  these  Pelasgic  nations. 
According  to  a  Greek  tradition  Avhich  agrees  with  Egyptian  records, 
they  came  from  Lydia.  ''  In  the  days  of  King  Atys,  son  of  Manes, 
there  was  a  great  famine  throughout  the  land  of  Lydia.  The 
King  resolved  to  divide  his  kingdom  into  two  equal  parts,  and 
made  his  people  draw  lots  to  decide  which  part  should  remain  in 
the  land,  and  which  should  go  into  exile.  He  was  to  continue  to 
rule  over  those  who  remained ;  the  emigrants  were  to  have  his 
son  Tyrsenus  as  their  chief.  The  lots  were  drawn ;  and  those 
who  were  destined  to  depart  came  down  to  Smyrna,  built  .ships, 
put  in  them  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  went  in  search  of  a  hos- 
pitable land.  Having  coasted  for  a  long  time,  they  reached  the 
shore  of  Umbria,  where  they  founded  the  towns  which  they  inhabit 
to  this  day.  They  discontinued  the  name  of  Lydians,  and  called 
themselves  Tyrseni,  after  the  name  of  their  king's  son,  who  had 
acted  as  their  guide."  ^  These  towns,  of  which  Herodotus  speaks, 
were  built  to  tlie  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber,  and  consequently 
very  close  to  Rome.      They  were  Alsium,  Agylla  or  Caere,'*  Pyrgi, 

1  There  is  still  near  Tivoli  a  valle  di  SicUianu. 

2  From  a  number  of  testimonies  it  seems  to  result  that  people  of  the  Illyrian  race  covered 
the  whole  of  the  eastern  coast  of  Italy  exactly  opposite  Illyria,  while  the  western  shore  was 
occupied  by  Pelasgians;  and  IMicali  (ii.  35G)  identifies  these  two  peoples.  This  is  also  the 
opinion  of  Dalmatian  critics,  who  ha\e  found  a  strong  analogy  between  the  Oscan,  which  is 
akin  to  Latin,  and  the  remains  of  the  ancient  Illyrian,  preserved  in  the  dialect  of  the 
Skippetars.  Grote  admits  the  relationship  of  the  Oenotrians,  the  Siculians,  etc.,  with  the 
Epirotes.  "All,"  he  says,  "  have  the  same  language,  the  same  customs,  the  same  origin,  and 
can  be  comjirised  under  the  name  of  Pelasgians."  lie  adds,  •'  They  were  not  very  widely 
separated  from  the  ruder  branches  of  the  Hellenic  race "  {Hiatory  of  Greece,  iii.  4G8). 
The  Pelasgic  influence  can  be  recognized  in  the  oldest  religion  of  Rome,  especially  in  the 
worship  of  Vesta,  and  is  found  in  the  Sibylline  books,  which  recommended  the  building  of  a 
temple  to  the  Dioscuri,  the  worship  of  the  Bona  Dea,  and  the  sacrifice  of  two  Gauls  and  two 
Greeks.  Lastly,  Samothrace,  the  centre  of  the  Pelasgic  rehgion,  had  her  relationshiji  with 
Rome  acknowledged  by  the  Senate.     Cf.  Plut.,  Marcellus,  30. 

'  Herodotus,  i.  94;    Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus,  Antiq.  Rom.,  i.  27-30. 
*  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus  (ll/iil.  i.  20)  makes  Pisa  a  Pelasgian  city. 

VOL.    I.  4 


50  INTEODUCTIOK 

which  was  their  port,  Tarquinii,  which  played  so  great  a  part  in 
Roman  history,  and  perhaps,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Arno,  the  city 
of  Pisa,  the  population  of  which  spoke  Greek. 

The  story  of  Herodotus  is  falaulous,  but  it  may  allude  to  a 
real  emigration.  In  the  time  of  the  Emperors  this  tradition  was 
national  both  at  Sardis  and  iii  Etruria.^  Whatever  be  their  origin, 
the  Tyrrhenian  Pelasgians  possessed  a  power  which  spread  far  their 
name ;  for  notwithstanding  the  conquest  of  the  country  by  the 
Rasena,  the  Greeks  never  recognized  any  people  between  the  Tiber 
and  the  Arno  but  "  the  glorious  Tyrrhenians,"  ^  and  the  Athenians 
have  consecrated,  in  the  beautiful  frieze  of  the  Choragic  Monument 
of  Lysicrates,^  the  memory  of  the  exploits  of  one  of  their  gods 
against  the  pirates  who  came  forth  from  the  harbors  of  Tyrrhenia. 

But  while  admitting  the  existence  of  these  Tyrrhenians,  it  is 
not  necessary  to  sacrifice  the  Etruscans  to  them.  The  Romans, 
who  certainly  had  not  learnt  it  from  the  Greeks,  called  the  Rasena, 
their  neighbors,  Tusci  or  Etrusci,*  and  the  Eugubine  tables,  an 
Umbrian  monument,  also  call  them  Turscum,  —  a  plam  proof  that 
the  name  of  the  Tyrrhenians  was  national  also  in  Etruria.  What 
can  this  native  use  of  two  names  mean,  if  not  the  co-existence  of 
two  nations  ?  After  the  conquest  the  Tyrrhenians  were  neither 
exterminated  nor  banished ;  their  name  even  prevailed  with  foreign 
nations,  as  in  England  the  name  of  Anglo-Saxons  over  that  of 
the  Norman  conquerors  ;  and  the  subsequent  progress  of  Etruscan 
power  appeared  to  be  that  of  the  ancient  Tyrrhenians. 

The  Pelasgians,  then,  formed  along  the  western  coast  of  the 
peninsula  a  first  stratum  of  population,  which  was  soon  covered 
by  other  nations.  In  the  midst  of  these  new  races  the  ancient 
masters  of  Italy,  like  the  Pelasgians  of  Greece,  lost  their  language, 
their  manners,  their  liberty,  and  even  the  remembrance  of  what 
they  had  been.  Nothing  remained  of  them  but  the  Cyclopean 
walls  of  Etruria  and  of  Latium,  enormous  blocks  of  stone,  set 
without  cement,  which  have  withstood  the  ravages  of  time  as  well 

'  Tac.  Ann.,  iv.  55,  and  Strabo,  V.  i.  2. 

2  Hesiod,  Theog.,  1015  and  1016. 

5  [Pictured  in  Stuart  and  Revett's  Antiquities  of  Athens,  and  since  iu  all  the  histories  of 
Greek  art ;  it  dates  from  335  B.  c.  —  Erf.] 

*  The  Greeks  said  Tvpprjvoi  and  Tvpirrfvol :  whence  from  the  Etruscan  form,  Turscum,  we 
easily  arrive  at  Tusci,  Etrusci,  and  Etruria. 


PELASGIAl«rS   AND    UMBKIANS. 


51 


as  of  man.^  Some  Pelasgians,  however,  escaped  ;  and  yielding  to 
the  impulse  for  invasion  which  was  at  work  from  north  to  south, 
gained  by  slow  degrees  the  great  island  to  which  the  Siculi  gave 
their  name,  and  where  the  Morgetes  followed  them.''^  Those  who 
preferred  the  rule  of  the  foreigner  to  exile,  formed  in  many  parts 
of  Italy  an  inferior  class,  who  rested  faithful,  in  their  degradation, 


Tirc    CABEIKI. 


to  that  habit  of  labor  which  was  one  of  the  characteristics  of 
their  race.  In  Oenotria  the  low  or  servile  occupations,  that  is  to 
say,  all  arts  and  manufactures,^  fell  to  their  lot,  as  in  Attica, 
where  the  buildmg  of  the  citadel  of  Athens  was  intrusted  to  them  ; 
so  that  the  much-vaunted  Etruscan  arts,  the  figures  in  bronze*  or 

1  "  At  Segni  the  walls,  composed  of  enormous  blocks,  form  a  triple  enclosure.  At  Alatri 
we  still  see  a  Pelasgian  citadel.  The  walls  are  40  feet  liigh,  and  some  stones  are  8  to  9  feet 
long.  The  lintel  of  one  of  the  gates  of  the  town  is  formed  of  three  blocks  placed  side  by  side. 
These  stones  have  been  carefully  cut,  and  set  with  skill.  The  joining  of  the  stones  is  perfect. 
It  is  a  work  of  giants,  but  of  clever  giants." —  Ampere  :  L'  Hisloire  Romaiiif  a  Rome,  i.  135. 
For  the  description  of  these  monuments  see  Abeken,  Mittel  Italien  vor  den  Zeiten  Romischer 
Herrschaft. 

-  Thucydides  (vi.  2)  shows  the  Siculi  fleeing  into  .Sicily  before  the  0]iici. 

'  It  is  to  Temesa  (Tempsa,  in  Bruttitun)  that  the  Taphians  came  to  exchange  brass  for 
glittering  iron  {Ofhjs.,  I.  184).  In  the  time  of  Thucydides,  the  Siculi  still  inhabited  this 
town.  Stephanus  Byz.  (sub  voce  xioi)  says  that  the  Italian  Greeks  [Italiotes]  treated  the 
Pelasgians  as  the  Spartans  did  the  Helots. 

*  According  to  tradition  it  was  the  Pelasgic  Tekhines  • —  half  men,  half  sjirites  —  who 


52 


INTEODUCTION. 


terra-cotta,  the  drawings  in  relief,  the  painted  vases,-'  like  those  of 
Corinth,  etc.,  would  be  the  work  of  the  Pelasgians,  who  remained 
as  slaves  and  artisans  under  the  Etruscan  Lucumons. 

Their  religion  was  as  obscure  as  their  history.  It  was  con- 
nected with  the  worship  of 
the  Cabeiri  of  Samothrace, 
Axieros,  Axiokersa,  Axioker- 
sos,  and  Casmilos,  cosmic 
deities,  personifications  of 
earthly  fire  and  celestial  fire, 
—  the  religion  of  a  nation  of 
miners  and  smiths.  Later 
on  the  Cabeiri  were  identi- 
fied with  Greek  divinities. 
Thus  on  a  famous  Hermes 
of  the  Vatican,  Axiokersos  is 
associated  with  Apollo-Helios, 
Axiokersa  with  Venus,  and 
Casmilos,  "  the  ordainer," 
with  Eros.  Axieros,  the  su- 
preme god,  remained  above  the  trinity  who  emanated  from  him. 

It  has  been  said  that  all  the  ancient  religions  have  been  the 
worship  "  of  nature  naturalizing  {naturantis),  of  nature  naturahzed 
{naturatae)."  The  expression  is  barbarous,  but  it  is  just.  Of  these 
religions  the  first  belonged  to  simple  naturalism  ;  the  second  have 
given  rise  to  anthropomorphism,  in  which  all  terminate.  The 
Cabeiri  being  considered  the  cause  of  things,  the  symbol  of  gen- 
eration played  an  important   part   in    their  figurative  worshij)  and 


THE    CABEIRI. 


had  discovered  tlie  art  of  working  metals,  and  wlio  had  made  the  first  images  of  the  gods. 
Niebuhr  has  remarked  the  singular  coineidencc  which  exists  in  Latin  and  in  Greek  between 
the  words  for  a  house,  a  field,  a  plough,  husbandry,  wine,  oil,  milk,  oxen,  pigs,  sheep,  apples 
(he  could  have  added  metallum,  argentum,  ars,  and  agere,  with  their  derivatives,  ahacus,  etc.), 
and  generally  all  the  words  concerning  agriculture  and  a  peaceful  life ;  while  all  the  objects 
which  belong  to  war  or  hunting,  ilueUum,  ensis,  sagitta,  liasta,  are  denoted  by  words  foreign 
to  Greek.  This  fact  is  explained  if  we  consider  that  the  peaceful  and  industrious  Pelasgians 
formed  the  foundation  of  the  population  in  Greece  and  Italy,  especially  in  Latiuni,  where  the 
Sieulians  remained  mingled  with  the  Casci.  [Niebuhr's  acute  remark  anticipated  what  Pictet 
and  others  have  shown  to  result  from  the  common  Aryan,  not  Pelasgian,  ancestry  of  Greeks 
and  Romans  before  they  settled  in  either  country.  The  common  roots  indicate  what  culture 
each  race  brought  with  it  into  its  adopted  home.  —  Ed.'] 

1  [We  must  not  forget  the  direct  importation  of  these  things  from  Attica.  ^  Ed.'} 


PELASGIANS  AND   UMBRIANS.  53 

history.  On  a  Tusco-Tyrrhenian  mirror  of  the  fourtli  century 
before  our  era,  two  of  the  three  Cabeiri,  transformed  into  the 
Dioscuri,  Castor  and  Pollux,  are  seen  in  the  act  of  killing  the 
youngest  under  the  eyes  of  Venus,  who  opens  the  cista  in  which 
the  remains  of  the  god  are  to  be  placed,  and  in  the  presence  of 
the  wise  Minerva,  calmly  and  serenely  witnessing  his  death,  which 
is  no  real  death.  Life  in  reality  comes  from  death ;  the  god  will 
revive  when  Mercury  has  touched  him  with  his  magic  wand. 

The  initiation  into  the  mysteries  of  the  Island  of  Samothrace 
remained  an  act  of  deep  piety  with  the  Romans  as  with  the 
Greeks.  Rome  was,  by  the  legend,  even  put  in  direct  relation  with 
the  Pelasgic  island.^ 

The  Palladium  and  the  Penates,  carried  away  by  Aeneas  from 
the  flames  of  Troy,  to  be  the  pledge  of  power  to  the  Eternal  City, 
were  taken  by  the  Pelasgian  Dardanus,  it  is  said,  from  Samothrace 
to  the  banks  of  the  Scamander,  whence  they  passed  to  Rome. 

Vesta,  the  goddess  of  the  inextinguishable  fire,  who  played  so 
great  a  part  in  the  Italian  religions,  must  also  have  been  a  deity  of 
the  Pelasgians ;  bvit  she  belonged  to  all  the  people  of  the  Aryan  race, 
for  she  was  the  feminine  representative  of  the  Agni  of  the  Vedas. 

The  Pelasgians,  and  those  who  imitated  their  method  of 
building,  rendered  a  service  to  the  pretended  descendants  of  the 
Trojans  which  has  not  been  sufficiently  noticed.  The  Cyclopean 
walls,  with  which  they  surrounded  so  many  towns  of  Central  Italy, 
saved  Rome  in  the  Second  Punic  War,  by  preventing  Hannibal 
from  occupying  a  single  one  of  those  impregnable  fortresses  which 
defended  the  approaches  to  the  "Ager  Romanus."  During  sixteen 
years  the  great  Carthaginian  held  little  beyond  the  enclosure  of 
his  camp.^ 

For  two  centuries  the  Pelasgians  had  the  mastery  of  Italy ; 
when  the  Sicanians,  expelled  from  Spain  by  a  Celtic  invasion,  and 
some  Ligurians,  who  had  come  from  Gaul,'^  spread  themselves  along 

1  See  the  Revue  arcMol.  for  December,  1877. 

*  See  plate  of  the  walls  of  Norba.  Twenty  centuries  ago  this  town,  taken  and  burned 
down  by  Sylla,  ceased  to  exist;  but  its  waUs  are  the  most  curious  Italian  specimen  of  the 
architecture  called  Cyclopean.  The  town  was  built  on  a  declivity  commanding  the  Pontine 
Marshes.  The  enclosure  remains  almost  entire  ;  it  has  no  tower  to  defend  the  foot  of  the  wall, 
but  the  principal  gate  is  flanked  by  two  quasi-bastions. 

*  For  a  long  time  the  Ligurians  were  believed  to  be  Iberians.  "  Their  language  is  Indo- 
European,"  says  M.  d'Arbois  de  Jubaiuville  {Les  Premiers  Habitants  de  I' Europe)  \  "it  is 


54  INTRODUCTION. 

the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  from  the  P_yTenees  to  the  Arno.  In 
Italy  they  occupied,  imder  various  names,  a  great  part  of  Cis- 
Alpine  Gaul  and  the  two  slopes  of  the  Northern  Apennines. 
Their  constant  attacks,  especially  those  of  the  Sicanians,^  who 
had  advanced  farthest  south,  forced  the  Siculians  to  leave  the 
banks  of  the  Arno.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  disasters  of  that 
nation,  which  pretended  to  be  indigenous,  m  order  to  prove  its 
right  to  the  possession  of  Italy. 

When,  four  centuries  later,  the  Etruscans  descended  from  their 
mountains,  they  drove  the  Ligurians  from  the  rich  valley  of  the 
Arno,  and  confined  them  within  the  banks  of  the  Macra.  How- 
ever, bloody  fights  still  took  place  for  a  long  time  between  the 
two  nations,  and  notwithstanding  their  advanced  post  of  Luna,  the 
Etruscans  were  unaljle  to  maintain  themselves  in  peaceable  possession 
of  the  fertile  lands  watered  by  the  Serchio  (Ausar).^ 

Not  far,  on  the  San  Pellegrino,  the  highest  summit  of  the 
Northern  Apennines  (5,150  feet),  and  in  the  impracticable  defiles 
from  which  the  Macra  descends,  the  Apuans  dwelt,  who,  from  their 
lofty  mountains,  watching  the  roads  and  the  plain,  gave  neither 
truce  nor  respite  to  the  merchants  and  traders  of  Tuscany. 

Divided  into  as  many  little  states  as  they  had  valleys,  and 
always  in  arms  against  each  other,  these  nations  preserved,  how- 
ever, the  general  name  of  Ligurians  and  some  of  the  customs 
common  to  all  their  tribes,  —  respect  for  the  character  of  the  fetials, 
and  the  custom  of  proclaiming  war  by  ambassadors.  Their  manners 
also  were  alike  everywhere.  They  were  those  of  poor  moun- 
taineers upon  whom  nature  had  bestowed  courage  and  strength,  in 
place  of  the  wealth  of  a  fertile  soil.^  The  women  labored,  like 
the  men,  at  the  hardest  work,  and  hired  themselves  out  for  the 
harvest  in  the  neighboring  countries,  while  their  husbands  trav- 
ersed the  sea  in  their  frail  ships  as  far  as  Sardinia  and  Africa, 
to  the    detriment  of   the  rich  merchants  of   Marseilles,  of   Etruria, 


Celtic,"  adds  M.  Maury  (Compies  Rendus  de  I' Acad,  de.i  Inscript.,  1870).  M.  Ern.  Desjardins 
discusses  tliis  question  in  the  second  volume  of  his  Geogruphie  ancienne  de  la  (Jaulc,  and 
arrives  at  the  same  conclusions. 

1  Thucvdides  (vi.  2)  admits  the  Sicanians  as  an  Iberian  tribe,  a>s  Si  fj  dXfjdfia  eiplcKfTai. 

2  The  country  of  Lucca  watered  by  the  Serchio  is  called  the  garden  of  Tuscany,  which 
is  itself  one  of  the  most  fertile  countries  of  Italy. 

^  "Assuetum  malo  Ligurem."  —  Vergil,  Georgics,  ii.  168. 


« 
O 

O 


1-1 
►J 


PELASGIANS   AND    UMBRIANS.  55 

and  of  Carthage.^  They  had  no  towns,  except  Genoa,  their  common 
market,  but  numerous  small  villages,  hidden  in  the  mountains, 
where  the  Roman  generals  never  found  anytliing  worth  taking. 
A  few  prisoners,  and  long  rows  of  chariots  loaded  with  rude  arms, 
were  ever  the  only  ornaments  of  tlieir  triumphs  over  the  Ligurians.^ 

Few  people  had  so  high  a  reputation  for  liard  work,  for 
sobriety,  and  valor.  During  forty  years  their  isolated  tribes 
held  in  check  the  Roman  power  in  tlieir  mountains,  which  suc- 
ceeded in  overpowering  them  only  by  forcing  them  away  from 
that  ungrateful  soil,^  where  they  saw  famine  ever  threatening  them, 
but  where  they  possessed  tliat  which  they  esteemed  their  chief 
good,  their  liberty. 

At  the  other  extremity  of  Cis-Alpine  Gaul  dwelt  the  Veneti. 
The  two  nations  are  contrasted,  like  their  countries.  In  the  midst 
of  those  beautiful  plains,  fertilized  by  the  mud  of  so  many  rivers, 
under  the  mildest  climate  of  Italy,  the  Veneti,  or  the  "  victorious,"  * 
as  they  were  called,  exchanged  their  poverty  and  valor  for  effemi- 
nate and  timid  manners.  They  had,  it  is  said,  fifty  towns,  and 
Padua,  their  capital,  manufactured  fine  woollen  stuffs  and  cloths, 
which,  by  means  of  the  Brenta  and  tlie  port  of  Malamocco,  they 
exported  to  distant  countries  ;  their  horses  were  in  great  demand 
for  the  Olj'mpic  races,  and  they  travelled  to  Greece  and  Sicily  to 
sell  the  yellow  amber  which  they  obtained  from  the  Baltic.  Their 
industry  and  commerce  accumulated  wealth,  which  often  tempted  the 
pirates  of  the  Adriatic.  But  never  were  they  seen  in  arms ;  and  they 
accepted  disgracefully,  without  battle,  without  a  struggle,  the  Roman 
domination :  a  luxurious  life  had  early  sapped  their  courage. 

Having  entered  Italy  with  the  Liburnians  of  Illyria,  or  having 
come,  perhaps,  from  the  borders  of  the  Danube,^  the  Veneti  had 
been  driven  into  the  mountains  of  Verona,  of  Trent,  and  Brescia, 

'  Poseidonius  (ap.  Strab.  III.  iv.  17,  and  Diod.  v.  39).  The  descendants  still  go  to  the 
coasts  of  Sardinia  and  Algeria  to  get  fish  and  coral,  which  the  Ligurian  Sea  does  not  a£Eord 
them,  because  of  the  de])th  of  its  water  near  the  coast. 

2  Livy,  xl.  34. 

'  Forty  thousand  Apuans,  the  bravest  of  the  Ligurians,  were  transported  into  the 
country  of  the  Hirpini ;  and  thirty  times,  if  there  is  no  mistake  in  the  text  of  PUny  (iii.  G), 
the  Ingaunians  were  compelled  to  change  their  abode.  "  Ingaunis  Liguribus  agro  tricies 
dato."  [This  is  the  Asiatic  system  of  fifroUicns,  wliich  we  know  from  early  Greek  and  from 
Hebrew  history.  —  Ed.^ 

*  This  is  the  sense  given  by  Ilesychius  to  the  word  Heneti,  sub  voce  'Ei'eTiSay  ttoKovs. 

*  Mannert  declares  them  to  be  of  Slave  oritfin. 


56  INTKODUCTION. 

by  the  Euganei,  who  had  possessed  the  country  l)efore  them,  and 
who  had  given  their  name  to  a  chain  of  volcanic  hills  between 
Este  and  Padua. 

To  the  north  of  the  Veneti,  the  Carni,  probably  of  Celtic  origin, 
covered  the  foot  of  the  mountains  which  have  taken  their  name, 
and  some  wild  lUyrians  had  taken  possession  of  Istria. 

At  a  })eriod  prol)ably  contemporaneous  with  the  invasion  of 
the  Ligurians,  the  Umbrians  ^  {Amra  —  the  noljle,  the  brave)  arrived, 
who,  after  bloody  battles,  took  possession  of  all  the  countries 
possessed  by  the  Siculi  in  the  plains  of  the  Po.  Pursuing  their 
conquests  along  the  Adriatic,  they  drove  towards  the  south  the 
Liburnians,  who  left  only  a  few  of  their  number  (Praetutians  and 
Pelignians)^  on  the  banks  of  the  Prexara,  and  penetrated  as  far 
as  Monte  Gargano,  wliere  tlieir  name  is  still  preserved.^  At  the 
west  of  the  Apennines_^  they  subdued  a  part  of  the  country  between 
the  Tiber  and  the  Arno.*  The  Sicani,  who  had  settled  there, 
found  themselves  involved  in  the  ruin  of  the  Siculi,  and  many 
bands  of  these  two  nations  united  and  emigrated  beyond  the  Tiber. 
But  they  met  there  with  new  enemies ;  the  natives,  encouraged 
by  their  disasters,  drove  them  gradually  towards  the  country  of 
the  Oenotrians,  who,  in  their  turn,  forced  them  to  go  with  the 
Morgetes,  aiid  find  a  last  asylum  in  the  island  which  they  called 
by  their  name.  The  Sicanians  shared  a  second  time  their  fate, 
and  passed  after  them  into  Sicily.^ 

Heirs  of  the  Pelasgians  of  the  north  of  Italy,  the  Umbrians 
ruled  from  the  Alps  to  the  Tiber  on  the  one  side,  and  as  far  as 
Monte  Gargano  on  the  other.  They  divided  this  vast  territory  into 
three  provinces  :    Isombria,   or  Lower  Umbria,  in  the  partly  inun- 

1  The  Gallic  origin  uf  the  Umbrians  iiccrediteJ  by  antiijuity,  has  been  revived  by  modern 
writers.  But  the  inscriptions  found  in  Umbria,  on  the  frontier,  it  is  true,  of  the  iSabine 
country,  tell  of  a  Latin  tongue  ;  we  must  then  connect  the  Umbrians  with  the  Sabellian  Osci. 
Pliny  (iii.  14)  says  of  them,  "  gens  antiquissima  Italiae."  The  recent  works  of  M.  Breal  have 
proved  that  Umbrian  was  an  Italian  dialect,  —  which,  after  aU,  does  not  solve  the  ethnological 
question.  M.  Ern.  Desjardins  makes  them  a  Ligurian  jieople ;  M.  d'Arbois  de  Jubainville 
makes  them  akin  to  the  Latins. 

'^  Ovid,  who  was  himself  Pehgnian,  gives  to  these  people  a  Sabine  origin  (Fafl.,  iii.  95). 

*  Scylax  {Periplas,  p.  G).  See  the  map  of  the  kingdom  of  NajJes  by  Rizzi  Zannoni. 
At  the  centre  of  the  group  of  mountains  are  found,  besides  the  "  Valle  degli  Umbri,"  other 
localities  named  Catino  d'  Umbra,  Umbriechio,  Cognetto  d'  Umbri  (Mieali,  i.  71). 

*  The  Umbro  takes  its  name  from  them. 

*  Dionys.  (i.  73)  and  Thucydides  (\i.  2)  fi.v  this  migration  as  having  taken  place  two 
hundred  years  after  the  Trojan  war,  —  of  course  without  certainty. 


PELASGIANS  AND   UMBRIAJ^^S. 


57 


dated  plains  of  the  Lower  Po ;  Ollumbria,  or  Upper  Umbria,  between 
the  Adriatic  and  the  Apennines;  VUumbria,  or  Maritime  Umbria, 
between  the  Apennines  and 


the  Tyrrhenian  Sea. 

Like  the  Celts  and  the 
Germans,  they  dwelt  in  open 
villas;es  in  the  middle  of  the 
plains,  disdaining  to  screen 
their  courage  behind  high 
walls ;  but  therefore  exposed 
after  a  defeat  to  irretriev- 
able disasters.  It  is  said 
that  when  the  Etruscans 
came  down  into  Loml«irdy, 
the  Umbrians,  being  con- 
quered, lost  at  one  blow  three 
hundred  villages.  However, 
in  the  mountainous  cantons 
of  Ullumbria,  after  the  exam- 
ple of  the  Tyrrhenian  cities 
which  were  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, their  towns  were  built 
on  the  summits,  and  sur- 
rounded with  rainparts  ;  ^ 
thus  Tuder,  close  to  the 
Tiber;  Nuceria,  at  the  foot 
of  the  Apennines ;  Narnia, 
on  a  rock  which  commands 
the  Nar ;  Mevania,  Literam- 
na,  Sarsina,  Sentinum,  etc., 
which  by  their  construction 
are  proof  of  a  more  timid,  but  also  more  advanced,  civilization. 

^  These  fortifications  arc  perhaps  the  work  of  the  Etruscans,  for  Umbria  remained 
subject  to  them  for  a  long  time.  "Umbria  vero  pars  Tusciae"  (Serv.  in  Acn.  xii.  753).  Livj' 
(v.  33)  says,  witlioiit  any  restriction,  that  the  Tuscan  empire  embraced  the  whole  width  of 
Italy,  from  sea  to"  sea. 

'^  Tuder  (Todi),  or,  as  it  is  called  on  the  money,  tvtere,  was  early  an  important  city. 
What  is  left  of  the  walls  resembles,  in  its  greater  regularity  and  absence  of  rudeness,  those  of 
Volaterrae  and  Pcrusia.  It  will  bo  observed  that  its  money,  which  dates  perhaps  from  the 
fourth  century  B.  c,  is  of  remarkable  elegance. 


LIIiRAL    AS    OF    TUDER." 


58  INTEODUCTIOK 

For  three  centuries  the  empire  of  the  Umbrians  gained  for 
that  people  a  reputation  of  great  jDOwer ;  but  it  was  broken  by 
tlie  Etruscan  invasion,  which  deprived  them  of  the  plains  of  the 
Po  and  of  Maritime  Umbria,  where  the  attacks  of  the  Tyrrhenians, 


CLAV£RNiVR-D;^  5AS-H£R.TI-mATRv5-ATi£R5ie.-POSTl-ArMV ' 

HOMOfJVSDVf^ PsymAMlSCvRsm- ori-A-vh    CLAWRNf 
WRSAMS-  HeRTfFRATifR-AT.lfRSfvJ^-SfHMfN/EX-Df  CO/iliER    s 
Pfi.AAN?R-S08S£R-POST/-ACNv- V£,-X-  CA6R;^/£ft-V£f- V-  PRITA 
ToCOfOSTRAFAHE'  EfSBSNAOTlA-yh  CASiiOS-DiRSAHERTifRATRVS 
AT^£RS{ftr'OST^ACNV-fAR6R-OPf^£R•  ?-y\-ACKBCA$iaMl(X^i£:ii^ 
MATilR-  f  ir-SfSNAHOMONVSDVlR  PVRi-fAR.-E/SCVR£NFOT£A-V/ 
■      CASttAn  Om  SANWf  RJr-ffoSsTf  ER-A?=}g?  Si  VR'fStftVtENIf R-OfcCC^t£R' 
,      ra.MNfR-SoRS£gPOSTfACNV-Vf  f-X  V-  CAgRiNfR-  v£f- VSS-  £T 
SES^A- OT£;A-VI 


.  .^'^y,  — -^^^r^^^.x-^^----'-" -^^-rf^^.'^. 


FRAGMENT  OF  EUGUBINE  TABLES  (FROM  IGUVIUM).^ 

who  remained  masters  of  a  part  of  the  country,  had  shaken  their 
power. 

Shut  in  from  that  time  between  the  A^sennines  and  the 
Adriatic,  they  were  there  subject  to  the  influence  and  even  to  the 
rule  of  their  neighlwrs.  Etruscan  chai'acters  are  seen  on  their 
coins ;    they    are    found,    too,    on    the    tables   of    Iguimim,   together 

^  M.  Bre'al,  tlie  learnerl  author  of  the  work  entitled  Les  Tables  Euguhines,  has  been  kind 
enough  to  give  me  this  passage  from  Table  V.  in  both  Etruscan  and  Latin  characters.  It 
contains  two  decrees  given  by  the  brotlierhood  of  priests  who  caused  the  Eugubine  tables  to 
be  engraved.  The  first  decree,  of  wliich  only  the  end  is  hero  reproduced,  is  in  Etruscan 
letters ;  the  second  is  in  Latin  letters ;  but  the  language  of  the  two  documents  is  the  same, 
it  is  Umbrian.     We  only  give  a  transcription  of  the  commencement :  — 

"  Ehvelklu  feia  fratreks  ute  kvestur  panta  muta  adferture  si. 
Rogatinnem  faciat  fratricus  nut  quaestor  quanta  miilta  adfertori  sit. 
Panta  niuta  fratru  Atiiediu  mestru  karu  pure  ulu  bciuirent. 
Quaiitam  vutltam  fratrum   Attfdiorum  major  pars  qui  illur  venerhit 
adferture  cru  pepurkurent  herifi,  Etautu  mutu  adferture  si. 
adfertori  esse  jusserint   \iiuantani\  tibet,  tanta  viulia  adfertori  sit." 

The  date  of  these  two  pass.ages  may  be  pl.iced  between  the  first  and  second  centuries  before 
the  Christian  era,  but  the  language  of  them  is  much  older. 


PELASGIANS   AND   UMBRIANS.  59 

with  some  words  wliicli  appear  to  ])elong  to  the  language  of  the 
Rasena;  and  finally,  the  soothsayers  of  Umbria  had  no  less  rep- 
utation than  the  Tuscan  augurs.^ 

Oftentimes  they  banded  together  against  the  same  adversaries. 
Thus  the  Umbriaus  followed  the  Etruscans  to  the  conquest  of 
Campania,  \vhere  the  towns  of  Nuceiia  and  Acerrae  recall  by 
their  names  two  Umbrian  cities;  and  they  took  part  in  the  great 
expedition  against  the  Greeks  of  Cumae.^  When  Etruria  understood 
that  the  cause  of  the  Samnites  was  that  of  all  Italy,  Umbria  did 
not  abandon  her  at  that  last  hour;  sixty  thousand  Umbrians  and 
Etruscans  stretched  on  the  battle-field  of  Sutrimn  bore  witness  to 
the  ancient  alliance,  and  perhaps  blending,  of  the  two  peoples. 
Finally,  when  the  loss  of  liberty  left  them  no  other  joy  than 
pleasure-seeking  and  effeminacy,  they  w^ere  devoted  to  these,  and 
remained  united  still  in  the  same  reputation  for  intemperance.^ 
Both,  too,  had  had  the  same  enemies  to  resist,  Rome  and  the  Gauls ; 
with  this  difference,  —  due  to  the  position  and  direction  of  the  Apen- 
nines, which  protected  Etruria  against  the  Gauls,  and  Umbria 
against  Rome,  —  that  the  latter  had  first  come  to  be  more  dreaded 
by  the  Etruscans,  as  no  barrier  separated  them,  and  the  former 
Ijy  the  Umbrians,  whose  country  opened  into  the  Valley  of  the  Po. 
The  Senones  invaded  a  considerable  portion  of  it,  and  always 
struck  across  Umbria  in  their  raids  towards  the  centre  and  south 
of  the  peninsula. 

The  Umbrians  were  divided  into  numerous  independent  tribes, 
of  which  some  dwelt  in  towns,  others  in  the  country.  Thus 
while  the  mass  of  the  nation  made  common  cause  with  the  Etrus- 
cans, the  Camertes  treated  with  Rome  on  a  footing  of  perfect 
equality ;  Ocriculum  also  obtained  the  Roman  alHance,  but  the 
Sarsinates  dared  to  attack  the  legions  alone,  and  furnished  the 
consuls  with  two  triumphs.  Pliny  still  counted  in  his  time  in 
Umbria  forty-seven  distinct  tribes ;  *  and  this  separation  of  the 
urban  and  rustic  populations,  this  passion  for  local  independence, 
this    rivalry   between    towns,  was  always    the  normal    state  of    the 

*  Cic,  de  Dicin.,  i.  41. 

^  Strabo,  V.  iv.  3;  Pliny,  I^at.  Hist.,  iii.  5;  Dionysius,  Ant.  Rom.,  vii.  3. 
'  "  Aut  pastus  Umber  aut  obesus  Etruscus."  —  C.\tullus  :  xxxix.  11.     On  the  dissolute- 
ness of  Etruscan  manners,  see  Theopompus,  in  Athenaeus,  xii.  14. 

*  Pliny,  Xal.  Hist.,  iii.  14. 


60         .  INTRODUCTION. 

Romagna,  of  the  mardaes  of  Ancona,  and  of  almost  the  whole  of 
Italy.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  just  as  in  ancient  times,  there 
were  in  the  Romagna  communities  of  peasants  entirely  free,  and 
all  the  towns  formed  jealous  municipalities.'  Thus  it  happened 
that  this  energetic  race,  which  had  no  knowledge  of  the  litigious 
spirit  of  the  Romans,  and  with  whom  might  settled  right,^  —  these 
-men,  that  Napoleon  declared  to  be  tlie  best  soldiers  in  Italy,  have, 
thanks  to  their  divisions,  submitted  quietly  to  the  ascendency  of 
Rome,  and  came  ultimately  to  obey  the  weakest  of  governments. 


III. 

THE   ETEUSOANS. 

OUR  Western  civilization  lias  its  mysteries,  like  the  old  East ; 
Etruria  is  to  us  what  Egypt  was  before  Cliampollion.  We 
know  very  well  that  it  was  inhabited  l^y  an  industrious  people, 
skilled  in  commerce,  art,  and  war,  rivalling  the  Greeks  at  the  same 
time  that  they  were  under  their  influence,  and  for  a  long  time 
powerful  and  formidable  in  the  Mediterranean  ;  but  this  people 
has  disappeared,  leaving  us  for  its  riddle  an  unknown  language 
for  a  proof  of  what  it  once  was,  innumerable  monuments,  vases, 
statues,  bas-reliefs,  ornaments,  objects  precious  both  for  workman- 
ship and  for  materials,  —  a  people  rich  enough  to  bury  with  its 
chiefs  the  means  wherewith  to  pay  an  army  or  build  a  town ; 
industrious  enough  to  flood  Italy  with  its  products  ;  and  civilized 
enoiigh  to  cover  its  monuments  and  tombs  with  inscriptions.^     But 

1  See  L.  Ranke,  Ilistnnj  nfllie  Popes,  ii.  198. 

^  *O/i/3/jtK0t  oTav  TTfios  dWrjXovs  (^(UifTiv  u^(liL(T(3r]Tr](riVy  KaOoTikurSivm  a)?  eV  iroKi^w  ^cij^ovraL 
Koi  SoKovtrt  Si(«ioVepa  Xf'yeiK  oi  Tovs  fvavriuvs  (iTroo-f^d^arrej  (Nie.  Damasc,  ap.  Stob.  Flor.,  10, 
70).  Here  we  have  the  judicial  duel  of  the  Middle  Ages.  They  said,  too  :  'AvayKoiov  rj  vimv 
rj   aT:o6vT]iTKfLV.      (^Ibid.y  7,  31).) 

*  M.  de  Longporier  says  of  one  monument,  which  was  found  at  Cervetri  (Caere)  :  "  It  is 
directly  connected  with  the  Corinthian  art  of  the  seventh  century,  so  tliat  this  tomb  may  give 
us  an  exact  idea  of  what  that  of  Demaratus,  the  father  of  Tarquin  the  Elder,  must  have  been." 
{Muse'e  Napoleon  111.,  explanation  of  pi.  Lxxx.)  Let  us  note  that  the  Etruscans  interred 
their  dead,  and  did  not  burn  them  ;  the  contrary  was  the  case  in  the  later  times  of  the  Repub- 
lic and  under  the  Empire  [or  rather,  both  customs  prevailed.  —  Eil.^. 


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62  INTEODUCTIOjST. 

all  this  is  mute,  and  modern  science,  wholly  baffled,  has  hitherto 
been  unable  to  interpret  more  than  twenty  words  or  so  of  the 
Etruscan  language.^  Their  portraits  which  they  have  left  us  on 
their  tombs  tell  us  nothing  more  of  them.  These  obese  and  thick- 
set men,  with  aquiline  noses  and  retreating  foreheads,  have  nothing 
in  common  with  the  Hellenic  or  Italiote  type,  and  are  not  of 
the  same  race  as  the  thin-featured  people  represented  on  their 
vases. 

Whence  did  they  come  ?  The  ancients  themselves  did  not 
know.  Deceived  by  the  name  of  the  Tyrrhenians,  who  had  pre- 
ceded the  Etruscans  north  of  the  Tiber,  the  Greeks  took  them  for 
Pelasgians,  and  re^Jresented  them  as  having  travelled  from  Thessaly 
and  Asia  Minor  into  Tuscany.  But,  on  the  testimony  of  Dionysius 
of  Halicarnassus,  their  language,  their  laws,  their  customs,  and 
their  religion  had  nothing  in  common  with  those  of  the  Pelasgians. 
Niebuhr  and  Otf.  Midler  consider  that  the  Etruscans,  or  Rasena,  as 
they  called  themselves,  came  from  the  mountains  of  Rhaetia.^  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  no  reason  why  the  Etruscans,  who  placed 
the  abode  of  their  gods  in  the  north,  and  gave^  them  the  Scandi- 
navian name  of  Ases,^  should  not  be  regarded  as  an  Asiatic  tribe, 
which,  after  having  penetrated  into  Europe  by  the  defiles  of  the 
Caucasus,  by  which  the   Goths  afterward  passed,  had  left  on  the 

1  See  the  work  of  M.  Noel  des  Vergers,  L'Etrurie  el  les  Etrusqucf,  nu  dix  cms  de  fouilles 
dann  lex  Maremmes  Toscanes.  Varro  (de  Ling.  Lat.,  iv.  9)  speaks  of  Etruscan  tragedies  which 
are  lost.  We  have  nearly  two  thousand  inscriptions :  but  we  cannot  understand  them,  and 
Ma.x  Muller,  in  his  Science  of  Language,  is  obliged  to  pass  over  the  Etruscan  in  silence.  The 
interpretations  of  Corssen,  who  [thought  the  language  Indo-European,  and]  was  for  a  time 
called  "  the  Oedipus  of  the  Etruscan  Sphinx,"  have  been  abandoned,  and  the  Sphinx  remains 
mute  [till  we  find  a  bilingual  text.  —  -Erf.]. 

-  Ijivy  (v.  33),  Pliny  (iii.  20),  and  Justin  (xx.  5)  maintain,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  Rhae- 
tiuus  are  Etruscans  who  took  refuge  in  the  Alps  after  the  conquest  of  Lombardy  by  the  Gauls. 
Niebuhr  supposes  that  the  singular  language  of  Groeden,  in  Southern  Tyrol,  is  a  remnant  of 
the  Etruscan  language.  Many  names  of  places  there  recall  the  Rasena,  and  the  IMuseum  of 
Trent  preserves  vases  and  small  figures  in  bronze  with  Etruscan  inscriptions  discovered  in 
that  province.  Quite  recently,  in  1877,  there  were  found  in  the  Valteline,  not  far  from  Como, 
some  Etruscan  objects  of  great  antiquity  (Rer.  arch.,  Sept.  1877,  p.  204).  Ogiuli  tried  to 
prove  in  the  G'wrntde  Acadico  the  relationship  of  the  Germans  and  Etruscans.  M.  Noel  des 
Vergers,  who  has  sought  for  the  solution  of  the  problem  especially  in  the  study  of  figured 
monuments,  is  disposed  to  accept  the  tradition  of  Herodotus  as  to  their  Lydian  origin.  But 
the  plastic  arts  may  have  been  introduced  into  Etruria  later  than  the  arrival  of  the  Etruscans, 
by  commerce,  or  previously  to  it  by  the  Tyrrhenians.  In  short,  the  problem  will  remain 
insoluble  until  we  decipher  the  Etruscan  language. 

*  Fest.  s.  V.  "  Sinistrae  aves." 

*  "  Aesar  .  .  .  Etrusca  lingua  Deus  vocarotur"  (Suet.  Oct.  97). 


THE   ETRUSCANS. 


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SOME   ETRUSCAN    ALPHABETS. 


64 


INTEODUCTIOK 


south  tlie  peninsula  of  the  Balkans  occupied  by  the  Pelasgian  races, 
and  had  ascended  the  Valley  of  the  Danube  as  far  as  the  Tyrolese 
Alps.  Priestly  rule,  division  into  strictly  separated  classes,  and 
the  predominance  of  fatalism,  are  characteristics  more  and  more 
marked  in  proportion  as  we  trace  back  the  course  of  centuries 
and  approach  more  nearly  to  Asia.  Etruscan  civilization  has  also 
in  common  v^^ith  Semitic  literatures  the  omission  of  the  short  vowels. 


ETRUSCAN   FIGURES.       (ATLAS    OF    MICALI,    PL.    Xiv).l 

the  reduplication  of  the  consonants,  and  the  writing  from  right  to 
left.  The  dwarf  Tages  reminds  us  of  the  clever  dwarfs  and  magi- 
cians of  Scandinavia  ;  whilst  the  obese  figures  found  at  Cervetri ; 
the  gorgons,  of  which  there  are  so  many  representations ;  the  gods 
with  four  wings,  two  spread  and  two  drooped  towards  the  earth ; 
the    sphinxes,    the    monsters   which    guard    the    approaches    to    the 


1  We  rc'liR'tantly  reproduce  these  figures,  to  which  we  find  non«  analogous  in  Grecian 
art.  But  the  Etruscans,  so  clever  in  the  manufacture  of  bronzes,  jewels,  and  vases,  preserve 
the  taste  of  barbarous  nations  for  monsters  to  serve  as  bugbears.  ^Vhen  they  thought  to 
make  them  terrible  they  made  them  hideous.  We  must  show  this  side  of  their  plastic  art. 
[Similarly,  in  old  Irish  illuminations  and  carvings,  the  animals  introduced  are  simply  gro- 
tesque, and  the  human  figures  as  bad  as  ]iossible,  while  both  the  feeling  and  execution  of  the 
geometrical  ornament  is  the  most  beautiful  which  can  possibly  be  found.  —  Ed-J 


THE  ETRUSCANS.  G5 

mansions  of  the  dead ;  the  animals  imknown  to  Italy,  lions  and 
panthers,  devouring  one  another;  the  Egyptian  scaral^aei,  the  good 
and  evil  genii,  like  the  devs  of  Persia,  which  conduct  souls  to  the 
lower  w^orld;  finally,  a  (piantity  of  details  of  ornamentation,  —  show 
either  borrowing  from  the  East,  or  memories  of  their  early  lioinc. 

We  have  above  compared  the  two  industrious  and  universally 
persecuted  races  of  the  Finns  and  Pelasgians ;  we  might  also  com- 
pare the  two  peoples  who  have  taken  their  place,  —  the  enigmatical 
language  of  the  Rasena  with  the  Scandinavian  Runes  ;  Odin,  the 
Ases,  and  royal  families  of  the  Goths,  with  the  Tuscan  Luciunons, 
who  were  at  the  same  time  nobles  and  priests.  Like  the  Germans, 
the  Etruscans  united  what  the  East  separates,  —  religion  and  arms, 
the  caste  of  priests  and  that  of  warriors. 

If  the  Goths  believed  m  the  death  of  the  gods,  and  dared  to 
strive  against  them,  the  Etruscans  predicted  the  renewal  of  the 
world,  and  imagined  that  they  could  by  their  magic  formulae  con- 
strain the  divine  will.  The  grave,  melancholy,  and  religious  char- 
acter of  this  people,  their 
respect  for  women,  their 
kindness  towards  slaves,^  the 
length  and  al)undance  of 
their  repasts,  would  also  sug- 
gest Germanic  manners,  if  it 
were  not  probable  that  these 
resemblances  are  purely  ac- 
cidental. The  saying  of 
one  of  the  ancients  has,  in 
fact,  remained  the  opinion  of 
modern   science  :   "  By  their 

1  1        „         „  xl  ETRUSCAN    GOKOOX    (CAMPAXA    MUSEUM). 

language   and   manners   the  '^  ^ 

Etruscans  are  separated  from  all  other  nations." 

We  will  suppose,  w^ithout  firm  conviction,  that  the  Etruscans 
came  down  from  the  Alps  into  the  Valley  of  the  Po,  bearing  with 
them  from  Asia.r  which  they  had  perhaps  quitted  for  but  a  few 
centuries,  their  liaK-sacerdotal  government,  and  from  the  moun- 
tains, where  they  had  recently  sojourned,  that  division  into  in- 
dependent cantons  which  has  existed  in  all  time  among  the  people 

*  Dionys.  Ant.  Rom.,  i.\.  5.     The  Veieatines  earoUed  tliem  in  tlnnr  troops. 
VOL.  I.  5 


GG 


INTllUDUCTION. 


of  the  Alps.  They  first  stopped  in  Cisalpine 
Gaul,  where  they  possessed  as  many  as  twelve 
large  towns ;  then  they  crossed  the  Apennines, 
and  established  themselves  between  the  Tiber 
and  the  Arno.  Tliere  they  found  some  Tyrrhe- 
nian Pelasgians  in  possession  of  Hellenic  beliefs, 
traditions,  and  arts,  and  in  commercial  rela- 
tions with  the  Greeks  of  Southern  Italy  and 
Ionia.  These  Pelasgians,  protected  by  cities 
stronger  than  the  open  villages  of  the  Um- 
brians,  could  not  be  expelled  or  exterminated, 
and  formed  a  consideral)le  iiortion  of  the  new  nation.^  Is  it  ":oing: 
too  far  to  attribute  the  woi'ks  of  drainage,^  the  Cyclopean  construc- 


FIGUIIE  WITH   FOITU  WINGS. 


CHIMAERA    IJJ   THE    GALLERY   OF   FLORENCE    (mICALI,    ATLAS,    PL.    XLII.). 


tions,  the  pretended  knowledge  of  omens,  and  the  industrious  activity 
of  the   Etruscans,  to  the  influence,  counsels,  and  example  of  these 

'  Esiiec-i.ally  in  the  towns  of  Southern  Etriiri.a,  which  always  ilisplay  chai-acteristios  dif- 
fering from  Ihosu  of  the  northern  cities,  and  through  which  the  Greek  i-eUgion  obtained  an 
entry  into  Kome.  At  Caere  there  have  been  found  inscriptions  thought  to  be  PeLasgian. 
Moreover  Caere  and  Tarquinii  Iind  each  its  treasure-house  at  Delphi,  like  Sparta  and  Athens, 
and  the  painted  vases  of  Taripiinii  are  e.xactly  similar  to  those  of  Corinth.  We  might  call  to 
mind,  too,  the  religious  character  of  the  peo]jle  of  Caere  and  the  reputation  they  had  of  having 
always  ab.stained  from  jnracy. 

'^  See  Noel  des  Vergers,  Etrnria  and  the  El7-uf!can/<,  i.  9G.  The  railway  through  the 
Maremma  has  led  to  the  discovery  of  a  quantity  of  subterranean  conduits  for  draining  the 
soil. 


THE  ETEUSCANS.  67 

Pelasgians/  who  are  said  to  have  excavated  the  tunnels  from  Lake 
Copais  through  a  mountain,  to  have  built  the  fortifications,  still 
remaining,  of  Argos,  Mj'ceuae,  and  Tirjns,  and  who  passed  for 
magicians  on  account  of  their  learning  ?  Moreover  this  people 
never  had  the  spirit  of  hostility  towards  strangers  ;  the  tradition 
of  Demaratus,  the  mixture  of  Umbrian,  Oscan,  Ligurian,  and  Sabel- 
lian  names  in  the  Etruscan  inscriptions,  and  finally  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  gods  and  arts  of  Greece,  show  with  what  facility  they 
admitted  men  and  things  of  other  countries. 

One  particular  feature  of  Etruscan  manners  is,  however,  in 
absolute  contradiction  to  the  Greek  manners.  This  sensual  people 
loved  to  heighten  pleasure  by  scenes  of  death.  They  were  accus- 
tomed to  human  sacrifices ;  they  decorated  their  tombs  with  scenes 
of  blood ;  ^  and  gave  to  their  neighbors  of  the  Seven  Hills  those 
gladiatorial  games  which  the  towns  of  half  the  Roman  world 
imitated." 

The  ruin  of  the  Umbrians  was  accomplished,  said  the  Etruscan 
annals,*  434  years  before  the  foundatiun  of  Rome.  The  Rasena 
succeeded  to  their  power,  and  increased  it  by  four  centuries  of 
conquests.  From  Tuscany,  the  principal  seat  of  then-  twelve  tribes, 
they  suladued  Uml)ria  itself,  with  a  part  of  Picenum,  where  traces 
of  their  occupation  are  to  be  found.^     Beyond  the  Tiber,  Fidenae, 

'  [To  account  for  the  Etruscans  by  referring  them  to  the  Pelasgi,  and  that,  too,  by- 
attributing  to  the  latter  all  sorts  of  works  without  any  conclusive  evidence,  is  indeed  to 
e.xplain  obscuru?n  per  obscurius,  and  gives  new  point  to  Niebidir's  remark  already  quoted  by 
the  author.  —  Ed.'] 

^  This  design  (see  p.  68),  taken  from  i>l.  xxi.  of  the  .illas  of  Xoel  des  Vergers,  repre- 
sents Achilles  immulatiiig  captives  to  the  manes  of  Patrochis.  This  is  the  i-eading  of  the 
names  written  over  the  head  of  each  figure,  and  M.  Brcal's  rendering  of  them,  going  from 
left  to  right,  —  Achmenrun  (Agamemnon) ;  Hinthial  Patrucles  (Ghost  of  Patroclus)  ; 
V\'p  (?) ;  AcHLE  (Achilles);  Truials  (Trojanus) ;  Chakn  (Charon);  Aivas  Tljiunus 
(Aja.x  Telamoniusj  ;  Truials  (Trojans);  Aivas  Vilatas  (Ajax  Oileusi.  This  scene  of 
murder  corresponded  so  well  with  the  manners  of  the  Etruscans,  that  when  they  wished  to  rep- 
resent an  episode  of  the  Iliad,  they  chose  the  only  narrative  of  this  nature  which  is  found  in 
Homer.  Many  testimonies  of  ancient  authors,  and  those  which  the  Etruscans  themselves  have 
left  on  their  monuments,  bear  witness  to  this  odious  feature  of  Etruscan  society.  Macrobius 
(Saturn,  i.  7)  says  that  Tarquin  caused  children  to  be  immolated  to  the  goddess  jNIania,  the 
mother  of  the  Lares.  As  for  the  winged  figure  who  is  standing  behind  Achilles,  I  should  be 
inclined  to  take  it  for  the  genius  of  the  hero.     For  the  Etruscan  doctrine  of  genii  see  below. 

^  [If  more  conjectures  are  encouraged,  we  shall  soon  have  the  Mexican  Aztecs,  so  Uke 
the  Etruscans  in  these  and  other  points,  declared  to  be  theu-  descendants.  —  Ed.'] 

^  Varr.,  ap.  Censor.,  1 7 ;  Dionysius  said  five  hundred  years.  It  is  useless  to  add  that 
these  chronological  data  are  valueless. 

^  Phny,  A'at.  Ilisl.,  iii.  5. 


68  INTEODUCTION. 

Crnstumeria,  and  Tusciilum,  colonized  by  them,  open  the  road  to- 
wards the  cpuntry  of  the  Volscians  and  RutuUans,^  who  were 
brought  into  sul^jection  ;  and  towards  Campania,  a  new  (Etruria 
was  founded  eight  hundred  j^ears  before  our  era,  of  which  the 
principal  cities  were  Volturnum,  afterward  called  Capua,  Nola, 
Acerrae,  Herculaneum,  and  Pompeii.^  From  the  cliffs  of  Sorrento, 
which  were  crowned  by  the  temple  of  the  Etruscan  Minerva,  they 
watched  any  vessels  hardy  enough  to  venture  into  the  gulfs  of 
Naples  or  Salerno,  and  their  long  galleys  cruised  as  far  as  the 
coasts  of  Corsica  and  Sardmia,  where  they  had  settlements.  "  Then 
almost  the  whole  peninsula,  from  the  Alps  to  the  Straits  of  Messina, 
was  under  their  sway,"  ^  and  the  two  seas  which  wash  the  shores 
of  Italy  took  and  still  keep,  the  one  the  name  of  this  people, 
Tuscum  Mare,  the  sea  of  Tuscany,  the  other  of  its  colony  of 
Adria,  the  Adriatic. 

Unhappily,  there  was  no  imion  in  this  vast  dominion.  The 
Etruscans  were  everjnvhere,  —  on  the  banks  of  the  Po,  the  Arno,  and 
the  Tiber,  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps  and  in  Campania,  on  the  Adriatic 
and  on  the  Tyrrhenian  Sea ;  but  where  was  Etruria  ?  Like  Attica 
under  Cecrops,  like  the  Aeolians  and  lonians  in  Asia,  the  Achaeans 
in  Greece,  the  Salentines  and  Lucanians  in  Italy,  the  Etruscans 
were  divided,  in  each  country  occupied  by  tl;Lem,  into  twelve  in- 
dependent tribes,  which  were  united  by  a  federal  bond,  without  any 
general  league  for  the  whole  nation.  For  instance,  when  any  grave 
circumstances  occurred  in  Etruria  proper,  the  chiefs  of  each  city 
assembled  at  the  temple  of  Voltumna,  in  the  territory  of  Volsinii, 
to  treat  there  concerning  the  interests  of  the  country,  or  to  celebrate, 
under  the  presidency  of  a  supreme  pontiff,  the  national  feasts.*  In 
the  days  of  their  conquests  the  union  was  doubtless  very  close, 
and,  the  chief  of  one  of  the  twelve  tribes  being  proclaimed  general- 
issimo, exercised  an  unlimited  power,  indicated  l)y  the  twelve  lictors 
furnished   by   the    twelve    cities,  with   their   fasces    surmounted  by 

1  Some  tombs  have  been  discovered  at  Ardea,  the  capital  of  the  Rutiili,  which  appear  to 
belong  to  the  Etruscans,  and  the  citadel  of  that  town,  more  imposing  than  those  of  Etruria. 
is  built,  like  them,  of  enormous  stones. 

-  Livy,  iv.  37;  Cato,  ap.  Veil.  Patero.,  i.  7;  Polybius,  ii.  17.  Lanzi  adds  to  these  five 
towns,  Nocera,  Calatia,  Teanum,  Cales,  Suessa,  Aesernia,  and  Atella. 

^  Cato,  ap.  Serv.  in  Aen.,  xi.  567.  Livy  repeats  it  in  almost  the  same  terms  in  different 
places  (i.  2 ;  v.  33). 

*  Livy,  V.  i. ;  and  elsewhere,  ;))'//(<v'/j(.<  Einirine. 


i'i|\|iM;.l|i- 


o 


O 
O 
<i 

H 


P 

W 
« 

w 


12; 


THE   ETEUSCANS. 


69 


axes.  But  little  by  little  this  bond  was  relaxed,  and  the  Etruscans, 
who  had  at  first  presented  the  appearance  of  a  great  nation,  were 
unable  to  escape  this  political  particularism,  which  has  been  too 
dear  to  the  Italians  even  up  to  our  own  days.     At  the  epoch  when 


TUSCAN    PLOUGHMAN.* 

Rome  seriously  menaced  Etruria,  all  imion  had  decayed,  and  tliey 
had  gone  so  far  as  to  declare  solemnly  in  a  general  assembly  that 
each  city  must  settle  its  o\vn  quarrels,  and  were  not  ashamed  to 
explain  that  it  would  l^e  imprudent  to  engage  the  whole  of 
Etruria  in  the  defence  of  one  of  its  tribes.'^ 


BRONZE  ARMS  AND  TOOLS  FOUND  AT  BOLOGNA. ^ 

1  This  group  in  bronze,  found  at  Arezzo,  is  thought   to  be  connected  with  the  legend 
of  the  birth  of  Tages. 

2  Livy,  V.  17. 

'  In     1871     there    were    brought     to    hght     at    the    Chartreuse,    near    Bologna,    ,365 
Etruscan    tombs,    and   in    the   environs    of    Villanova    numerous    pre-historic    objects,    like 


70 


USfTEODUCTION. 


Each  of  these  twelve  tribes,  represented  by  a  capital  which 
bore  its  name,  possessed  an  extensive  territory,  and  within  it 
subject-towns  were  in  dependence  on  the  principal  city,  with  inferior 


JEWELS    FOUND    AT    BOLOGNA    (SEE   NOTE    BELOW). 

political  rights ;  but  in  the  capital  itself  the  ruling  power  was  the 
order   of    the    Lucumons,   the   true    patricians,   who    possessed,   by 


those  of  the  lake-cities  of  Switzerland.  In  1877  a  single  search  at  Bologna  led  to  the  dis- 
covery of  an  amphora  4^  feet  high  and  4  feet  broad,  buried  doubtless  at  the  moment  of 
an  invasion,  and  containing  14,000  bronze  objects,  utensils,  arms,  and  ornaments.  These 
bronzes  were  then  precious  and  very  expensive  objects,  sjiread  through  Italy  and  into 
the  Transalpine  countries  by  a  commerce  which  was  at  once  timorous  and  daring  (Rev. 
arch,  of  June,  1877).  Count  Gozzadini  places  these  bronzes  as  far  back  as  the  tenth 
century  B.  c. 


THE  ETRL  SCANS. 


71 


hereditary  right,  power,  religion,  and  learning.  In  some  cases  they 
governed  the  city  in  turn  as  annual  magistrates,  in  others  one  of 
them  governed  as  king,^  but  with  a  power  limited  by  tlie  privileges 
of  that  sacerdotal  aristocracy  which  had  united  religion,  agriculture, 
and  the  state  by  indissoluble  bonds.  The  nymph  Bygo'is  had 
revealed  to  them  the  secrets  of  the  augur's  art,  and  the  dwarf  Tages 
the  precepts  of  human  wisdom  with  the  science  of  the  Aruspices. 
One  day  when  a  peasant  was  driving  his  plough  in  the  fields  of 
Tarquhiii,  a  hideous  dwarf,  with  the  face  of  a  child  imder  his  white 


BRONZE  VASES  FOUND  AT  BOLOGNA. 


hair,  Tages,  came  out  of  a  furrow.  All  Etruria  flocked  thither.  The 
dwarf  spoke  for  a  long  time ;  the  Etruscans  collected  his  words, 
and  the  books  of  Tages,  the  basis  of  Etruscan  disciplme,^  were 
for  Etruria  what  the  laws  of  Mann  had  been  for  India,  and  the 
Pentateuch  for  the  Hebrews. 

The  common  people,  brought  up  by  its  superstitious  fears  to 
respect  the  great  and  to  submit  to  the  laws  which  they  had 
ilictated,  did  not  dispute  their  dominion ;  and  this  docile  obedience 
rendering  violence  superfluous,  the  aristocracy  and  the  people  were 
not  separated  by  that  implacable  hatred  which  rends  states  asunder. 
Like  the  subjects  of  Venice,  still  so  faithful,  even  in  the  last  century, 

^  "Taedio  annuae  ambitionis  regem  creavere."  (Livy,  v.  i.) 
2  Cic,  de  Div.,  ii.  '23. 


72 


INTEODUCTIOK 


to  the  nobility  of  the  Golden  Book,  the  people  fought  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  social  order  wherein  it  held  only  the  last  place. 
But  when  the  fortune  of  Etruria  fell,  the  authority  of  the  Lucumons 
was  humbled.  At  Veii,  at  the  commencement  of  the  ten  years'  war, 
and  at  Arezzo,  a  century  later,  the  plebeians  dared  to  look  their 
masters  in  the  face  and  demand  a  reckoning. 


BRONZE   JEWELS.^ 


The  other  Italian  peoples  lived  scattered  in  straggling  villages 
(vicatim).  The  Etruscans  always  had  their  towns  walled,  and 
generally  placed  on  high  hills,  like  so  many  fortresses  dominating 
the  country.  Warriors,  husbandmen,  and  merchants,  they  fought, 
drained  the  marshes,  and  dug  harl^ors.  India  and  Egypt,  believing 
themselves  eternal,  spent  centuries  on  majestic  but  idle  monuments. 
Greece  covered  her  promontories  with  temples,  her  roads  with  statues, 

•■  For  the  description  of  these  objects,  see  Annates  du  Dull,  archeol.  1874,  voL  xlvi. 
p.  24!),  seq.,  and  in  the  Atlas,  vol.  x.  jil.  x.  seq. 


THE  ETKUSCAJSrS. 


73 


the  streets  and  open   spaces  of  her  towns  with  porticos.      Hero  it 
was  the  disinterested   genius  lor   the    arts,  there   a  profoundly   re- 


EXnnSCAN   JEWELS    AND    EARRIXGS.' 


ligious  sentiment  and  the  hope  of  an  endless  existence.     But  Etruria 
knew  that  she  and  her  gods  must  die  ;    and  anxious  to  live  and 


enjoy  life  before  that  anticipated  end,  she  lavished  time  and  men 
only  on  useful  works,  making  roads,  opening  canals,  turning  aside 
rivers,  surrounding  towns  with  unpregnable  walls. 


1  These  jewels  are  taken  from  Noel  des  Vergers'  Atlas. 


74  INTRODUCTION. 

In  Upper  Italy,  Mantua  thus  rose  in  the  middle  of  a  lake  on 
the  Mincio  —  a  position  to  this  day  the  strongest  in  the  peninsula. 
Its  metropolis,  Felsina  (Bologna),  on  the  Reno,  claims  to  have 
founded  Perugia^  also,  and  Plmy  calls  it  the  capital  of  Circumpa- 


BRONZE    ARMS.- 


dane  Etruria.  Melpum,  on  the  Adda,  was  able  to  stand  against 
the  Gauls  for  two  centuries  ;  and  Adria,  between  the  Po  and  the 
Adige,  was  surrounded  by  canals  which,  connecting  the  seven  lakes 
of  the  Po,   called  the  seven  seas,   rendered  the  delta  of   the  river 

'  Silius  Ilal.,  viii.  600. 

-  Bronze  buckler  and  arms  found  in  a  tomb  called  that  of  the  warrior  at  Corneto 
(Tarquinii) ;    see  Alias  of  the  Bull,  de  I' Inst.  arche'oL,  vol.  x.  pi.  .x. 


THE  ETRUSCANS.  75 

healthy.  The  waters,  confincil  or  let  off.  prepared  the  fertile  lands 
for  agriculture.  Towns  nniltiplied  fhcre  ;  and  from  Piedmont  to 
tlie  Adige  there  are  found  Etruscan  inscriptions,  bronzes,  pamted 
vases,  etc.,  relics  of  the  nde  of  an  industrious  people. 

In  Tuscany  the  Valley  of  the  Arno  and  that  (jf  the  Chiana 
were  drained,  the  Maremma  made  healthy,  and  six  of  the  twelve 
capitals  liuilt  upon  that  coast,  now  uninhabitable.  While  the  towns 
carved  marble,  cast  iron^  and  l:»ronze,  modelled  clay  into  elegant 
vases,  sculptured  innumeral)le  bas-reliefs,  chased  rich  armor  and 
precious  jewels,  and  worked  up  linen  for  the  priests,  wool  for  the 
people,  hemp  for  cordage,  and  wood  for  ships,  a  skilled  agricul- 
ture—  closely  bound  up  with  religion  and  an  equitable  division  of 
land,  which  gave  to  each  citizen  his  farm  ^  —  enriched  the  ^and^ 
and  covered  it  with  a  healthy  population.  Thus  was  realized  that 
problem  which  antiquity  was  so  seldom  able  to  solve,  —  large  towns 
in  the  midst  of  a  fertile  country,  industry  and  agriculture,  wealth 
and  strength  :    sic  furtis  Etriiria  crevit? 

Meanwhile,  from  the  numerous  parts  of  the  coast,  from  Luna, 
the  town  of  the  Marble  Walls  ;  ^  from  Pisa,  which  was  then  nearer 
the  sea  than  now ;  from  Telamon,  once  a  vast  harbor,  now  only  a 
swamp  ;  from  (rraviscae  ;  from  Populonia  ;  from  Cosa  ;  from  Pj'rgi ; 
from  the  two  Adrias ;  ®  from  Herculaneum ;  from  Pompeii,  there 
sailed  vessels  destined  for  commerce,  or  cruising  from  the  Pillars 
of  Hercules  to  the  coasts  of  Asia  Minor  and  Egypt.  More  hard}- 
adventurers  went  to  Gaul  to  seek  the  tin  of  the  Islands  of  the 
Cassiterides,  necessary  in  the  manufacture  of  bronze  ;  farther  still, 
to  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  to  seek  the  yellow  amber,  of  which 
the  women  made  their  ornaments,  and  which  was  said  by  the 
Greeks  to  be  formed  of  the  tears  of  the  daughters  of  the  Sun 
weeping  the  death  of  Phaethon.  Silver  coins  of  Populonia  found 
in  the  Duchy  of  Posen  show  the   route  followed  by  the   Etruse;in 

1  The  excellent  ore  of  the  Isle  of  Elba  was  brought  to  Populonia,  wliere  large  foundries 
were  established;  the  isle  is  only  separated  from  the  continent  by  a  channel  10  kiloni.  wide 
(()  miles).     [The  mines  are  still  worked,  and  give  a  good  return.  —  7J(/.] 

'^  "  Terra,  eulturae  causa,  particulatim  hominibus  attributa "  (Varro,  up.  Philai-g.  iu 
Geory.  ii.  169). 

^  Vergil,  Georrj.  ii.  52.3. 

*  Near  Carrara,  the  Qiiarri/,  where  there  is  a  mountain  of  white  marble. 

5  The  most  famous  between  the  Po  and  the  Adige  still  bears  the  same  name,  but  is  more 
tlian  14  miles  from  the  sea;  the  other,  Atri,  in  Picenum,  is  5  miles  from  the  Ailriatie. 


76 


INTRODUCTION. 


merchants  across  the  European  continent.  Carthage  closed  against 
them  the  Straits  of  Gades,  beyond  which  they  were  desirous  of 
leading  a  colony  to  a  large  island  of  the  Atlantic,  which  she  had 
just  discovered ;  ^  but  she  gave  up  to  them  the  Tyrrhenian  Sea. 
Every  strange  vessel  which  they  met  westward  of  Italy  was  treated 
as  a  prize,  unless  some  convention  protected  it.^  When  the 
Phocaeans  came,  in  536  b.  c  to  seek  another  country  in  these 
seas,  the  Etruscans  united  with  the  Carthaginians  agamst  those 
Greeks,  whom  the  two  nations  met  and  fought  everywhere. 


COINS    OF    POPULONIA    WITH    A    OORGON  S    HEAD,    REVERSE    SJIdOTH.' 


But  this  imion  could  not  last.  Tlie  Carthaginians,  who  for 
their  commerce  with  Gaul  and  Spain  needed  busmess  settlements 
in  Corsica  and  Sardinia,  established  themselves  in  those  two  islands 
in  spite  of  treaties.  Thence  sprang  up  violent  animosities,  and 
an  anxiety  on  the  part  of  the  Carthaginians^  to  ally  themselves 
with  the  Romans.*  The  hatred  of  Carthage  was  dangerous ;  yet 
less  so  than  the  rivalry  of  the  Greeks,  who  occupied  the  most 
important  commercial  positions  in  Sicily,  in  Southern  Italy,  and 
as  far  as  the  centre  of  Campania,  and  who,  through  Cumae,  men- 
aced the  Etruscan  colony  on  the  borders  of  the  Volturno.  As 
early  as  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  some  Cnidians  established 
themselves  in  the  Lipari  Islands,  whence  they  harassed  the  whole 
of  the  Tuscan  commerce.  Being  attacked  by  a  numerous  fleet, 
they  gained  the  victory,  and  in  the  joy  of  this  unhoped-for  triumph, 

^  Diod.  V.  20,      NauKTiKttis  dvvu^eatv  itj)^v(javT€s  Koi  noWovi  ;^/jot'ouf  SaXaTTOKpaTijG-ai'Tes- 

2  Aristotle,  Pol.  iii.  G. 

^  These  medals  give  a  full-face  representation  of  the  Etruscan  Gorgon,  which  is  seen  on 
so  great  a  number  of  vases  and  terra-cottas ;  but  she  no  longer  has  the  hideous  head  which  the 
ancient  monuments  of  Etruria  gave  her.  The  Greeks  had  the  Gorgon  too ;  but  they  disliked 
ugliness.  AVhen  they  had  made  her  terrible,  they  made  her  beautiful ;  and  Lucian  ends  by 
saying  that  it  was  by  her  beauty  she  exercised  her  fatal  power  of  changing  those  who  looked 
upon  her  to  stone.     [Lionardo's  famous  Medusa  suggests  the  same  idea.  —  £</.] 

♦  Shown  by  treaties  of  509,  348,  and  279  B.C. 


THE   ETRUSCANS. 


77 


they  dedicated  as  many  statues  at  Delphi  as  they  had  takeu  ves- 
sels.'      Rhodes,    too, 

showed     among      its  y^'*^  ^  **^' 

trophies  the  iron- 
bound  beaks  of  the 
Tyrrhenian  vessels, 
and  the  tyrant  of 
Rhegium,  Anasilaos, 
drove  them  from  the 
Straits  of  Sicily  liy 
fortifying  the  en- 
trance.^ The  Etrus- 
cans, therefore,  sided 
with  Athens  against 
Syracuse.  Hieromade 
them  pay  dearly  for 
this  alliance.  In  con- 
junction with  Cumae, 
Syracuse  inflicted  on 
the  Etruscans  a  de- 
feat which  marked 
the  decline  of  their 
maritime  power  (47-4), 
and  of  which  Pindar 
sung  :  — 

"  Son  of  Saturn, 
I  conjure  thee,  cause 
the  Phoenician  and 
the  soldier  of  Tyrrhe- 
nia  to  remain  at  their 
own    hearths,  taught 


^  Pausanias,  x.    1  '2    and 
16.     Thucyd.,  iii.  88. 

-  Strabo,  VI.  i.  5. 

'  This  coin,  with  the 
sign  of  the  wheel  and  the 
anchor,  is  a  dupondius,  or 
piece  worth  two  asses,  which 
are  marked  on  the  two  sides  of  tlic  anchor.  Coins  of  even  ten  asses  were  made ;  but  aU 
these  bronze  nuiltii)les  of  the  monetary  unit  are  rare. 


BROXZE    COIX    ATTKIIU  TED    TO    THE    ETRUSCO-UMBRI.-VN 
TOWN   OF    C.^MERS.^ 


(O 


mTKODUCTION. 


by  the  alfroiit  that  their  fleet  received  before  Cumae,  and  Ijy  the 
evils  that  the  lord  of  Syracuse  wrought  upon  them,  vfhen  victori- 
ous he  cast  all  their  brilliant  youth  headlong  from  the  heights  of 
the  swift  poops  into  the  waves,  and  drew  Greece  from  the  yoke 
of  slavery."      Hiero  made  an  offering  to  Zeus  of  Olympia  of  the 


r,---*^ 


A  lucumon's  helmet. 1 


helmet  of  one  of  the  Lucumons  killed  in  this  l>attle,  with  this 
inscription,  which  he  had  caused  to  be  engraved  on  it :  "  Hiero, 
son  of  Deinomenes,  and  the  Syracusans  [have  consecrated]  to  Zeus 
the  Tyrrhenian  [arms]  from  Cumae."  ^ 

1  [This  helmet  was  found  in  1817  iu  the  bed  of  the  Alpheus,  and  is  now  in  the  British 
Museum.] 

2  Pindar,  P;/tJi.  i.  13C,  sc/. ;  cf.  Jilate  alrave. 


THE   ETRUSCANS.  79 

From  all  quarters  enemies  then  rose  up  against  the  Etruscans. 
Threatened  on  the  north  by  the  Gauls,  in  the  centre  by  Rome, 
and  on  the  south  by  the  Greeks  and  Samnites,  they  lost  Lombardy, 
the  left  bank  of  the  Tiber,  and  Campania,  where  the  Samnites 
made  themselves  masters  of  Volturnum,  slaying  all  the  inhabitants 
in  one  night.  At  the  end  of  the  fifth  century  B.  c.  tliey  retained 
only  Tuscany.  Moreover,  divisions  prevailed  amongst  them ;  in  the 
midst  of  the  public  misfortune  the  league  had  been  dissolved. 
Veii,  attacked  by  the  Romans,  was  left  to  herself,  just  as  Clusium 
was  abandoned  when  threatened  by  the  Gauls.  Such  selfishness 
brought  its  own  punishment.  Veii  succumbed,  Caere  became  a 
Roman  municipality,  and  Sutrium  and  Nepeta  were  occupied  by 
Latin  colonies.  These  disastei's  taught  them  no  lesson,  and  Etruria 
viewed  with  indifference  the  earlier  efforts  uf  the  Samnites.  At 
last,  however,  she  saw  that  it  was  a  question  of  the  liberty  of 
Italy,  and  she  roused  herself  fully.  But  she  was  crushed  at  Lake 
Vadimo ;  a  second  defeat  completed  the  work.  This  was  the  last 
blood  shed  for  the  cause  of  independence.  For  some  time  longer 
the  Etruscans,  mider  the  name  of  Italian  allies,  miglit  think 
themselves  free ;  Init  little  l)_y  little  the  hand  of  Rome  pressed 
more  heavily  on  them,  and  at  the  end  of  a  century,  without  any 
noticeable  change,  Etruria  found  herself  a  province  of  the  Empire. 

Calm  under  the  yoke,  and  sadly  resigned  to  a  fate  which 
had  been  long  predicted,^  this  nation  made  no  effort  to  strive 
against  its  destiny.  They  tried  to  forget,  in  luxury  and  the 
love  of  art,  the  loss  of  their  liberty ;  and  preserving  amid  their 
sensual  pleasures  the  ever-present  idea  of  death,  they  continued  to 
decorate  their  tombs  with  paintings,  and  to  bury  in  them  thousands 
of  objects,  which  in  workmanship  and  material  indicate  extreme 
opulence.  Etruria,  in  fact,  was  still  rich ;  it  will  be  seen  what 
its  towns  gave  to  Scipio  after  sixteen  years  of  the  severest 
warfare. 

'  lu  the  miilst  of  the  ei\il  wars  of  Marius  and  Sylla,  the  Tuscan  soothsa}'ers  declared 
that  the  great  day  of  Etruria  was  drawinj;  to  a  close.  According  to  the  calculations  of 
their  astronomical  theology,  the  actual  world  would  only  last  eight  great  days,  or  eight 
times  1,100  years,  and  one  of  these  days  of  the  world  was  accorded  to  each  great  people 
(Varr.  ap.  Censor,  1 7).  Cicero,  in  the  Dream  of  Scipio,  also  believes  in  the  periodic 
renewal  of  the  world :  "  Eluviones  exustionesque  terrarum  quas  accidere  tempore  certo 
necesse  est  "  (rfe  Rep.  vi.  21),  Virgil  has  clothed  this  grand  idea  with  his  magnificent 
poetry :  "  Aspice  convexo  nutantem  pondere  mundum,"  etc.  (Eel.  iv.  50). 


80  INTRODUCTION. 

But  the  economical  revohition  which  followed  the  great  wars 
of  Rome  reacted  on  the  provinces.  As  in  Latium  and  Campania, 
the  shive  took  by  slow  degrees  the  place  of  the  free  man,  the 
shepherd  that  of  the  husl^andman,  and  small  properties  were  lost 
in  great  domains.  When  Tiberius  Gracchus  traversed  Etruria,  on  his 
return  from  Numantia,  he  was  alarmed  at  its  depopulation.  Sylla 
completed  its  ruin  by  abandoning  it  to  his  soldiers  as  the  price 
of  the  civil  war ;  the  Triumvirs  gave  it  another  visitation.  Thence- 
forward EtiTiria  never  recovered.  Her  social  organization  had 
perished ;  her  language,  too,  was  gone.  From  so  nmch  glory,  art, 
and  learning,  one  thing  only  survived ;  up  to  the  last  days  of  the 
ancient  world  the  Tuscan  augur  retained  his  fame  with  the 
country  people.  None  could  better  read  signs  in  the  entrails  of 
victims,  in  the  lightning  flashes,  or  in  ordinary  phenomena.'  It 
was  a  vain  science,  which  rested  on  the  enervating  dogma  of 
fatalism,  and  which  infected  the  nation  with  a  deathlike  torpor. 

The  Etrurians  played  a  considerable  part,  however,  in  the 
civilization  of  Italy,  —  not  Ijy  their  ideas,  for  they  added  nothing 
to  human  thought ;  nor  by  art,  since  as  regards  ideal  work,  theirs 
has  little  originality ;  liut  by  their  utilitarian  conception  of  life, 
by  their  industry,  and  by  the  influence  which  they  exercised  upon 
Rome. 

Livy  calls  the  Etruscans  the  most  religious  of  nations,  the  one 
which  excelled  in  the  practice  of  established  ceremonies ;  the  Fathers 
of  the  Church  looked  upon  Etruria  as  the  mother  of  superstitions. 
We  shall  see  that  she  deserved  this  report.  Their  augurs'  doctrine 
was  famous  among  the  ancients.  They  believed  that  the  great 
events  of  the  world  were  announced  by  signs ;  and  they  were  right 
in  believmg  it,  if  only,  instead  of  observmg  tlie  phenomena  of 
physical  nature,  they  had  studied  those  of  the  moral  order,  —  since 
the  best  policy  is  that  which  discovers  the  signs  of  the  times. 
But  the  augur's  art  was  only  a  collection  of  puerile  rules,  which 
held  the  mind  in  bondage,  and  made  first  them,  and  then  the 
Romans,  the  greatest  formalists  in  the  world. 

If  we  except  the  Greeks  settled  on  the  shores  of  the  gulfs  of 
Naples  and  Tarentum,  they  were  the  most  civilized  of  the  Italian 

^  Cicero,  de  Divin.  ii.  12,  18.  Exla,  fulgura,  ct  ostenta  were  tlie  three  parts  of  the 
science  of  divination. 


THE  ETRUSCANS. 


81 


nations.  Their  artisans  were  skilful,  their  nobles  loved  pomp  in 
their  ceremonies,  and  magnificence  in  their  dress  ;  and  they  gave 
Rome  these  tastes,  together  with  their  horse-races  and  athletic 
combats.  They  gave  them,  too,  their  massive  architecture,  which 
was  a  clumsy  imitation  of  the  Doric  order.     The  temple  of  Jupiter 


GATE    OF    VOLATEHKA. 


on  the  Capitol  derived  from  them  that  flattened  look  which  suited 
so  well  the  dull  Roman  imagination,  but  so  ill  tlie  God  of  the 
lofty  heavens.^  The  gate  of  Volaterra  and  the  Cloaca  Maxima 
prove  that  they  knew  how  to  construct  arches  and  vaults,  wliich 

1  [This  was  mainly  the  result  of  the  wide  separation  of  the  i)illars,  ■wM<'h  give  the  Etrus- 
can style  a  feeble  and  sjirawling  look,  as  compared  with  the  Greek.  The  effect  of  widening 
these  inter-columuar  spaces  is  very  marked.  —  Ed.'] 

VOL.   I.  6 


82  INTRODUCTION. 

the  Greeks  of  the  grand  epoch  had  forgotten  [or  neglected].  The 
rude  ogive  of  some  Cyclopean  gate  had  doubtless  inspired  them 
with  the  idea,  and  architecture  was  endowed  by  them  with  a  new 
and  precious  future.  They  do  not  appear  to  have  turned  it  to 
account  for  majestic  constructions,  as  did  the  Romans  of  the  Em- 
pire ;  but  they  employed  the  vault  in  their  canals  and  tunnels 
to  carry  off  the  water  and  render  the  country  healthy. 

The  senators  of  Rome,  who  lodged  their  gods  in  the  Etruscan 
manner,  lodged  themselves  like  the  Lucumons  of  Veil  or  Tarquinii : 
the  atrium,  which  was  the  characteristic  feature  of  patrician  villas, 
is  borrowed  from  the  Etruscans ;  and  from  the  Roman  atrlmn  came 
the  2^'^^'t^o  of  the  Spaniards  or  Moors,  and  the  Catholic  cloister.^ 
But  whilst  the  Romans  placed  their  tombs  on  the  surface  of  the 
soil,  as  we  do,  the  Etruscans  dug  funereal  chambers  underground,  or 
in  the  rocky  sides  of  their  hills.  Some  of  these,  as,  for  instance, 
in  the  valley  of  Castel  d'Asso,  have  a  singular  likeness  to  those 
which  are  seen  at  Thebes  in  Egypt.  Sometimes  they  raised  strange 
structures  over  the  excavation  which  contained  their  dead,  of  which 
the  fabulous  tomb  of  Porsenna  would  he  the  most  comj^lete  repre- 
sentation, if  the  description  which  the  ancients  have  left  us  could 
be  reduced  to  the  conditions  of  probability. 

Varro,  if  Pliny  has  copied  him  accurately,,  had  made  himself 
the  echo  of  vague  memories  which  tradition  had  preserved  and 
embellished  in  its  own  fashion.  "  Porsenna,"  says  he,  "  was  buried 
beneath  the  town  of  Clusium,  in  the  place  where  he  had  caused 
a  square  monument  of  liewn  stone  to  be  built.  Each  face  is  300 
feet  long  and  50  feet  high.  The  base,  which  is  square,  enclosed 
an  inextricable  labyrinth.  If  any  one  entered  it  without  a  ball  of 
thread,  he  could  not  regain  the  outlet.  Alrove  this  square  are  five 
pyramids,  four  at  the  angles  and  one  in  the  middle,  each  75  feet 
broad  at  the  base,  and  150  feet  high ;  so  exactly  equal  that 
with  their  summits  they  all  bear  a  globe  of  brass  and  a  kind 
of  cap,  from  which  bells  are  suspended  by  chains,  which  when 
moved  by  the  wind,  emit  a  prolonged  sound,  such  as  was  heard 
at   Dodona.     Above    the    globe   are   four   pyramids,  each   100   feet 

1  [More  probably  this  method  of  house-building  was  common  to  all  the  Aryans  of  South- 
ern Europe,  certainly  to  the  Homeric  Greeks,  as  well  as  the  Itahans.  It  is  the  form  now 
adopted  all  through  the  INIediterranean  countries.  —  Ed.'] 


THE  ETEUSCA^TS. 


83 


liigli.  Above  these  last-mentioned  pyramids,  and  on  a  single  plat- 
form, were  five  pyramids,  whose  height  Varro  was  ashamed  to  note. 
This  height,  according  to  Etruscan  fables,  was  the  same  as  that 
of  the  whole  monument."^  It  has  been  attempted  to  explain  this 
impossible  construction  by  saying  that  the  pyramids  were  not 
placed  ni)on  one  another,  but  upon  retreating  surfaces.^  This 
legend  was,  however,  only  half  fabidous.  Even  at  Chiusi,  there 
have  been  discovered  sepulchral  chambers,  forming  a  sort  of 
labyrinth,  through  the  narrow   passages  of  which  it  is  difficult  to 


THE    CUCUMELLA. 


make  one's  way,  and    the  CucumeUa  of   Vulci   leads  to  the   suppo- 
sition that  the  gloriovis  king  of  Clusium  had  a  sumptuous  tomb. 

The  CucumeUa,  situated  in  a  plain,  now  an  uninhabitable  waste, 
is  a  tumulus,  or  conical  mound  of  earth,  from  45  to  50  feet  high, 
probably  higher  in  ancient  times,  and  650  feet  in  circumference. 
Though  it  has  been  searched  several  times,  this  tumulus  has  not 
given  up  its  secret.  Tombs  have  been  met  wdth,  it  is  true,  in  the 
excavations ;  but  only  the  obscure  dead  had  their  last  abode  there, 
and,  like   faithful   servants,   guarded   the   approaches  to   the  place 


1  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist,  xxxvi.  19. 

2  Quatremere  de  Quincy,  Re.cueil  de  Dissert,  arch.,  183G. 


84 


INTEODUCTION. 


where  their  master  reposed.  The  Lncumo  and  his  kin  were  further 
in,  in  a  central  crypt,  the  access  to  which  had  ))een  shut  by  a 
wall  of  such  thickness  that  the  workmen  could  not  break  through 
it.  All  efforts  made  to  discover  the  entrance  to  this  singular 
monument  were  useless :  the  pyramids  of  Egypt  have  not  defended 
their  sepulchral  chambers  so  well.  In  the  cuttings  made  round  the 
outer  wall  were  found  animals  in  basalt,  winged  sphinxes,  lions 
standing  or  couched,  watching  over  this  palace  of  the  dead  to  drive 
away  the  audacious  visitor  who  should  attempt  to  pass  the 
gate.     On  the  summit  were  still  seen  the  bases  of  partially  crumbled 


I'.ItOA'ZE   VESSELS.! 


towers.  With  the  help  of  these  remains  it  was  possible  to  restore 
this  mysterious  tomb  with  some  appearance  of  probability .'■^  The 
edifice  is  utterly  devoid  of  grace.  But  purely  Etruscan  art  had  not 
that  gift  which  Greece  received  from  Minerva ;  and  strange  as  this 
construction  appears,  it  is  not  more  so  than  the  tumulus  of  the 
Lydian  king,  Alyattes,  on  the  banks  of  the  Hermus.^ 

!  For  the  description  of  those  objects,  see  Annales  du  Bull.  arch,  for  1874,  vol.  xlvi.  p. 
249  seq.,  and  in  the  Alias,  vol.  x.  jil.  10-12. 

-  This  restoration  was  made  under  the  directions  of  the  Prince  of  Canino,  whose  domain 
comprised  the  site  of  Vulci. 

^  Herodotus,  i.  93;  Stuart,  Mon.  of  Lydia,  p.  4;  Texier^  Description  de  I'Asie  min. 
iii.  20. 


•J 
u> 

H 
in 
< 
O 

bi 
O 

!- 

•J 


THE   ETEUSCAIS^S. 


85 


To  bury  their  cliiefs  under  great  (atntdl  was  the  custom  of  the 
Scythians,  Germans,  Celts,  and  Lydians,  and  consequently  of  the 
Pelasgians :  it  is  tlierefore  quite  natural  to  liud  it  again  in  Etruria, 
especially  in  the  region  where  the  Tyrrhenians  had  settled.  The 
type  of  the  Egyptian  tombs  shows  itself,  on  the  contrary,  in  the 
valley  of  Castel  d'  Asso,  five  miles  from  Viterbo.^  The  town  has 
been  destroyed,  but  its  necropolis  exists,  excavated  in  the  rock 
like  the  tombs  of  Medinet  Abu.  The  fagade  is  of  the  Doric  order,  — 
a  general  feature  of  Etruscan  architecture,  —  and  the  gates,  narrow- 
ing at  the  top.  the  deco- 
rations in  relief,  and 
the  mouldings,  recall  the 
monuments  on  the  banks 
of  the  Nile.  Soana  and 
Norchia,  too,  have  their 
valley  of  tombs  ;  those 
of  Castel  d'  Asso  were 
still  unknown  in  1808. 
In  former  days  an  im- 
mense nation  moved  in 
those  solitudes,  wherein 
the  traveller  dare  no 
longer  venture,  as  soon 
as  he  feels  the  close 
and  deadly  effluvia  of 
the  spring  time  in  the 
Maremma. 

The  Etruscan    exca- 


BLACK   VASES    OF    CLnSIUM    (■CHIUSl).^ 


vations  have  yielded  us  an  innumerable  quantity  of  bronzes,  terra- 
cottas, jewelry,  and  domestic  utensils,  all  of  excellent  workman- 
ship. Their  toreutic  was  renowned  even  in  Athens ;  the  chasings, 
candelabras,  mirrors  of  engraved  bronze,  gold  cups  and  jewels  from 
the   land   of   the   Tyrrhenians   were    sought   for    everywhere  ;    and 

*  Castel  d'  Asso  corresponds  to  the  village  of  Axia,  Castellum  Axiae,  which  was  situated 
"in  agro  Tarquiuiensi "  (Cic.  ;)ro  Caec,  20).  See  the  description  which  Dennis  gives  of  it, 
Etruria,  i.  229-242;  also  the  Bull.  arch,  for  18C3,  pp.  l.S-HO.  The  cut  is  taken  from  the  Alia.-! 
of  tlie  BuUelin,  vol.  i.  pi.  (lO. 

-  Taken  from  Noel  des  Vergers'  Alla.f,  pis.  .wii.,  xviii.,  and  xix ;  see  the  exjilanatiou  of 
these  cuts  on  pp,  12-14  of  the  same  work. 


86'  INTEODUCTION. 

when,  solne  years  ago,  the  Campana  Museum  brought  these  marvels 
to  our  knowledge,  the  modern  goldsmith  was  obliged  to  conform 
for  a  time  to  the  Etruscan  fashion. 

Their  figures  have  the  rigidity  of  Egyptian  statuary :  the  style 
had  not  reached  even  that  of  Aegina.  Yet  they  furnished  Italy 
with  many  bronze  and  terra-cotta  statues  of  large  dimensions. 
The  Romans,  who  were  niggardly  even  with  their  gods,  thought 
that  terra-cotta  statues  were  a  sufficient  decoration  for  their  temple 
of  Jupiter  Capitolinus,  and  they  placed  some  of  them  upon  the 
pediment.^      They    provided    themselves    yet    more    cheaply    with 

statues  of   bronze,    when    they  carried    off 
two  thousand  at  the  sack  of  Volsinii. 

The    ancients,  who    only  learned  very 

late    to    make    wooden    casks,    were    the 

best  potters  in  the  world  :    our  museums 

contain  more  than  fifteen  thousand  antique 

^^^^.'^--T'^^M  vases.       The    i-cd    pottery    of   Arezzo   and 

;?  '  <^^^B^^^K"         the    black    pottery    of    Chiusi    are    purely 

•'    '~^^  ""  Etruscan.      The   form    is    sometimes   odd, 

BLACK    VASE    OF    CLUSIUM.-         ,        ,  p,  i  ,  ml 

but  often  very  elegant.  ihe  ornaments 
in  relief  which  decorate  them,  the  fantastic  animals  seen  upon 
them  —  sphinxes,  winged  horses,  griffins,  and  sirens  —  recall  subjects 
familiar  to  Oriental  artists,  and  lead  us  to  the  conclusion  already 
propounded  on  the  diverse  sources  of  Etruscan  civilization.  Some 
of  these  vases  might  even  be  taken  for  Egyptian  caiiojjes,  those 
urns  of  which  the  cover  is  formed  by  a  man's  head.  Among  the 
specimens  which  we  give  is  a  ewer  in  the  shape  of  a  fish ; 
the  Campana  Museum  has  another  in  the  form  of  a  bird.  The 
learned  are  agreed  to  consider  these  Ijlack  vases  as  very  ancient, 
and  Juvenal  asserted  that  good  King  Numa  had  no  others  — 

" .     .     .     quis 
Simpuvium  ridere  Numae,  nigrumque  catinum     .     .     . 
Ausus  erat  ?  " ' 

As  for  the   painted   vases,  they   are   copied   from   Greek   vases,  or 

1  [But  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  same  fashion  existed  in  Greece  before  they  had  learned 
to  carve  in  deep  relief  or  set  up  marble  figures  in  the  pediment  itself.  —  Ed.'] 

^  Taken  from  Noel  des  Vergers'  Atlas,  pis.  xvii.,  xviii.,  and  xi.x;  see  the  explanation  of 
these  cuts  on  pp.  12-14  of  the  same  work. 

8  Sat,  vi.  343. 


THE  ETKUSCANS.  87 

else  they  were  imported  in  the  active  commerce  which  Italy  carried 
on  with  all  the  countries  bordermg  on  the  eastern  part  of  the 
Mediterranean  —  Egypt,  Phoenicia,  Cyprus,  Rhodes,  and,  above  all, 
both  European  and  Asiatic  Greece.  The  subjects  most  frequently 
represented  on  these  vases  are  borrowed  from  the  Epic  cycle,  from 
the  mythology  and  heroic  traditions  of  Hellas.  Whenever  they 
reproduce  myths  peculiar  to  Etruria,  some  reminiscence  or  imitation 
of  the  foreigner  appears.  Some  vases  of  gilt  bronze  which  were 
found  at  Volsinii  have  figures  which  remind  us  of  the  most 
beautiful  coins  of  Syracuse. 

We  ought  to  give  the  Etruscans  credit  for  having  appren- 
ticed themselves  to  those  who,  in  the  domain  of  art,  have  been 
the  masters  of  the  whole  world,  and  for  having  preserved  to  us 
some  of  their  masterpieces. 

The  most  admirable  of  the  antique  vases  come  from  the 
excavations  at  Chiusi ;  ^  and  smce  an  inhabitant  of  Vulci  esteemed 
a  Panathenaic  vase  precious  enough  to  be  buried  with  him,  let 
us  put  in  evidence  what  Etruria  loved  as  well  as  what  she 
manufactured. 


1  The  Fran9ols  Vase  at  Florence,  of  which  a  representation  will  be  found  in  the  Alias 
of  the  Institut  archiokuj.,  vol.  iv.  pi.  liv.,  Iv.,  Ivii. 


88  INTEODUCTIOK 


IV. 

OSCAKS  AND   SABELLIANS. 

TN  their  central  parts,  eastward  of  Rome  and  Latium,  the 
-^  Apennmes  have  their  highest  pealis,  their  wildest  valleys. 
There  the  Gran  Sasso  d'  Italia,  the  Velino,  the  Majella,  the  Sibilla, 
and  the  Great  Terminillo  raise  their  snow-capped  heads  alcove  all 
the  Apennine  chain,  and  from  their  summits  afford  a  view  of  l^oth 
the  seas  which  wash  the  shores  of  Italy .^  But  their  sides  are  not 
gently  sloped;  it  seems  as  if  they  laclved  space  to  extend  them- 
selves. Their  lines  meet  and  break  each  other ;  the  valleys  deepen 
into  dark  chasms,  where  the  sun  never  reaches ;  the  passes 
are  narrow  gorges ;  the  watercourses  torrents.  Everywhere  there 
is  the  image  of  chaos.  "  It  is  hell ! "  say  the  peasants.^  In  all 
ages  this  place  has  been  the  refuge  of  brave  and  intractable 
populations,  and  the  most  ancient  traditions  place  there  the  aljode 
of  the  Oscans  and  Sabellians,  —  the  true  Italian  race. 

Long  driven  back  by  foreign  colonists,  and,  as  it  were,  lost 
in  the  depths  of  the  most  somljre  forests  of  the  Apennines,  these 
people  at  last  claimed  their  share  of  the  Italian  sun.  Whence 
did  they  originally  come  ?  It  is  not  l<:nown ;  but  historic  proba- 
bilities, strengthened  by  the  affinity  of  language  and  religion,^ 
point  to  a  common  origin.  The  ditt'erence  of  the  countries  wherein 
they  definitely  settled  down  —  the  Sabellians  in  the  mountains ; 
the  Oscans  m  the  plain  —  established  between  them  differences  of 
customs  and  perpetual  hostilities,  which  obscured  their  original 
kinship.  Of  these  two  sister  nations,  the  one,  profiting  by  the 
feebleness  of  the  Siculi,  must  have  descended,  under  the  identical 
names  of  Oscans,  Opici,  Ausoni,  and   Aurunci,  into   the   plains   of 

1  [This  wild  Alpine  country  repeats  itself  twice  again  as  you  go  southward ;  once  along 
the  bounilaries  of  Apulia,  where  the  Abruzzi,  from  Potenza  down  to  the  ]\Ionte  PoUino,  form 
a  splendid  chain,  and  again  in  Calabria,  where  the  Sila  Mountains  embrace  a  large  district 
of  inaccessible  Alpine  country.  —  £</.] 

^  They  call  one  of  these  valleys  Inferno  di  S.  Cnlumha. 

^  The  Samnites  spoke  Oscan.  the  language  of  the  Campanians,  and  the  Atellan  farces 
written  in  that  language  were  understood  at  Rome.     (Strabo,  V.  iii.  6.) 


OSCANS   AND    SABELLIANS.  89 

Latium  and  Campania,  that  ancient  land  of  the  OpicA,  whicli  they 
had  never,  perhaps,  entirely  abandoned ;  the  other  must  liave  in 
later  times  peopled  with  its  colonies  the  summits  of  the  A]icnnines 
and  part  of  the  Adriatic  coasts:  the  latter  led,  in  their  warlike 
temper,  by  the  animals  sacred  to  Mars;  the  former  by  Janus  and 
Saturn,  who  taught  them  agriculture,  and  of  whom  they  made  gods 
of  the  sun  and  the  earth,  —  the  sun  ^vhieh  fertilizes,  and  the  earth 
whicli  produces. 

In  the  time  of  their  power  the  Siculi  had  possessed  the  land 
of  the  Opici ;  but  the  miseries  whicli  the  invasion  had  inflicted  on 
the  Pelasgians  of  the  banks  of  the  Po  gradually  spread  over  the 
whole  race,  and  a  lively  reaction  brought  the  mdigenous  inhabi- 
tants out  of  their  Apennine  catacombs,  and  put  them  in  possession 
of  the  plains  which  the  Siculi  had  occupied.  The  Casci  or  Abo- 
rigmes,  that  is  to  say,  the  oldest  inhabitants  of  the  land,  began  a 
movement  which,  though  several  times  arrested  by  the  conquests 
of  the  Etruscans,  Gauls,  and  Greeks,  finally  resumed  its  course 
with  Rome,  and  ended  l^y  substituting  the  indigenous  race  for  all 
these    foi-eign   nations. 

The  latter,  descending  from  the  high  land  between  Ami- 
ternum  and  Reate,  established  themselves  south  of  the  Tiber, 
where,  by  their  union  with  the  Umbrians,  the  Ausonians,  and  the 
Siculi,  who  remained  in  the  country,  was 
formed  the  nation  of  the  Prlsci  LaUni,^  which 
occupied,  between  Tibur  and  the  sea  (33  miles), 
and  from  the  Tiber  to  beyond  the  Alban  Mount 
(19    miles),    thirty  vUlages,    all    independent.'^  •^'-''■^  ^°-^'«^-' 

In  the  first  rank  stood  Alba  Longa,  which  took  the  title  of  the 
Metropolis  of  Latium,*  —  a  title  which  Rome,  founded  three  hundred 


1  Dionys.,  Ant.  Rom.  i.  14  ;  Nonius,  xii.  3;  Cic,  Tusc.  i.  12;  Varro,  de  Linrj.  Lat.  iv,  7; 
Fest.  s.  V. 

-  On  the  obverse,  a  kelmeted  head  of  Mercury  ;  on  the  reverse,  a  Pegasus.  But  this 
Pegasus  is  neither  the  winged  horse  of  the  Muses  nor  that  of  Aurora,  the  legends  of  which  are 
of  comparatively  recent  origin ;  he  bears  the  thunder  and  lightning  of  Jupiter,  or  rather,  he  is 
the  lightning  itself,  traversing  the  heavens  at  a  bound  (Hesiod.,  Theog.  281 ;  Apollod.  ii.  3,  ^  2 
and  4,  $2;  Ovid,  Metam.  iv.  78.5  and  vi.  119).  This  coin,  of  very  clumsy  workmanship,  is 
very  old,  and  m.ay  be  assigned  to  the  third  or  fourth  century  of  Rome. 

*  Strabo,  V.  iii.  2  :   dv  i'uia  Kara   Kafias  avTovofiuirdaL   crvvi^Mvev    vrr    uvb(v\   Kotvui  (j>vXa>  Tera- 
yfxeva. 

*  "  Omnes  Latini  ab  Alba  oriundi."  —  Li\a' :  i.  52. 


90 


INTEODUCTIOlSr. 


years  later,  claimed  to  have  inherited.  A  religious  l^ond,  in  the 
lack  of  any  other,  united  these  nations,  and  common  sacrifices 
gathered  them  on  the  Allian  Mount,  at  Lavinium,  the  sanctuary  of 
the  mysterious  Penates  and  the  native  gods.^ 

Thus  the  nation  from  which  Rome  sprang  was  itself  only  a 
mixture  of  diiferent  tribes  and  races.  Elsewhere  successive  races, 
instead  of  blending,  drive  out  or  overlay  each  other,  —  one  ruling, 
the  other  enslaved.  "With  the  Oscans  and  Sabellians  there  is,  on 
the  contrary,  a  fusion  of  victors  and  vanquished.  Greek  tradi- 
tions, which  were  always  so  intelligent,  have  faithfully  echoed  this 
origin  of  the  Latin  people ;  and  it  was  by  intermarriages  and 
peaceful  unions  that  Evander,  Aeneas,  Tibur, 
and  the  companions  of  Ulysses  established 
themselves,  just  as  at  a  later  period  inter- 
marriages unite  Rome  and  the  Sabines.  By 
its  local  traditions,  as  well  as  by  its  own 
origin,  Rome  was  prepared  for  that  spirit  of 
facile  association  which  gives  her  a  distinctive 
character  among  ancient  polities,  and  which 
was  the  cause  of  her  greatness. 

In  the  eighth  century  the  prosperity  of 
the  Latins  was  declining.  The  Etruscans  had 
traversed  their  country,  the  Sabines  had 
crossed  the  Anio,  the  Aequians  and  Volscians 
had  invaded  the  plain  and  seized  several  Latin 
towns.^  Alba  herself,  in  tradition,  seems  fee- 
ble enough  for  a  handful  of  men  to  have  caused 
a  revolution  there.  This  weakness  was  of  ad- 
vantage to  the  growth  of  the  Eternal  City. 

Ties    of   relationship   and    aUiance    united   the    Rutuli   with    the 
Prisci  Latini.     The  Rutulian  capital,  Ardea,*  was  already  enriched 


COIN    ATTRIBUTED    TO 
THE  KUTULIANS.^ 


'  Janus,  Saturn,  Picus,  Faunus,  and  Latinus  were  among  these  indigenous  gods.  Sacrifices 
were  also  offered  in  memory  of  Evander  and  of  his  mother,  the  proplictess  Camienta.  One  of 
the  gates  of  Rome  was  called  the  Carmental. 

2  In  the  first  centuries  of  Rome,  Latin  towns  are  assigned  in  turn  to  the  Aequians, 
Sabines,  Latins,  and  Volscians. 

'  On  the  obverse,  a  tortoise  with  two  o's,  the  mark  of  the  sextans ;  on  the  reverse,  a 
wheel,  —  rota,  the  root  of  the  word  Rutuli. 

*  "  Ardeam  Rutuli  habebant,  gens  ut  in  ea  regione  atque  in  ea  aetate  divitiis  praepollens." 
—  LivY  ;  i.  57. 


OSCANS   AND   SABELLIANS. 


91 


by  commerce  and  surrounded  by  liigh  walls.     Sagrmtum,  in  Spain, 
was  said  to  be  its  colony. 

Around  this  primitive  Latium,  wliicli  did  not  extend  beyond 
the  Numicius,  and  which  nourished  a  stout  population  of  husband- 
men/ were  settled  the  Aequians,  Hernicans,  Volscians,  and  Aurun- 
cans,  all    included   by    the    Romans    in   the  general  term  of    Latin 


WALL    OF    ALATRI. 


people ;  further   on,  between   the    Liris    and   the   Silarus,   were    the 
Ausonians. 

The*  Aequians,  a  little  nation  of  shepherds  and  hunters,  in- 
satiable plunderers,^  had,  instead  of  towns,  only  fortified  villages, 
situated    in    inaccessible   places.     Quartered    in    the    difficult    region 

"  Et  nunc  magnum  manet  Ardea  nomen ; 
Sed  fortuna  fuit." — -Vergil:  Aeneid,  vii.  412. 
Dionys.  (^Aiit.  Rom.,  iv.  64)  is  still  more  expressive. 

^  "Fortissimi  viri  et  milites  strenuissimi  exagricolis  gignuntur." — Flint:  Xat.  Hist. 
xviii.  5. 

*  "Convectare  juvat  praedas  et  vivere  rapto."  —  Vergil:  Aeneid,  vii.  74!'. 


92 


INTRODUCTION. 


traversed  by  the  upper  Anio,  they  reached,  by  way  of  the  moun- 
tains, as  far  as  Algidus,  a  volcanic  promontory,  from  which  the 
Roman  territory  might  be  seen,  and  whose  forests  covered  their 
march.  Thence  they  suddenly  poured  into  the  plain,  carrying  off 
crops  and  herds  ;  and  before  the  people  could  take  arms,  they  had 
disappeared.  Faithful,  however,  to  their  plighted  word,  they  had 
established  tlie  fetial  right  which  the  Romans  had  borrowed  from 
them,^  but  which  they  seem  no  longer  to  have  recognized  at  the 
time  when,  by  their  rapid  incursions,  they  every  year  turned  the 
attention  of  the  people  from  their  quarrels  in  the  Forum.  Not- 
withstanding their  proximity  to  Rome,  and  two  centuries  and  a 
half  of  wars,  they  were  the  last  of  the  Italians  to  lay  down  arms. 
Less    given    to    war    and    plunder,  because    their    country    was 


VOLSCIAN    COIN. 


richer,  notwithstanding  the  rocks  which  covered  it,^  the  Hernicans 
formed  a  confederation,  the  principal  members  of  which  were  the 
cities  of  Ferentinum,  Alatrium,  and  Anagnia.'^ 

The  imperishable  walls  of  the  two  first-named  towns,  the  linen 
books  wherein  Anagnia  recorded  her  history,  her  reputation  for 
wealth,  the  temples  that  Marcus  Aurelius  found  there  at  every 
step,  and  the  circus  where  the  deputies  of  the  whole  league 
assembled,  l^ear  witness  to  their  culture,  their  religious  spirit,  and 
their  ancient  might.*  Placed  between  two  nations  of  warlike  tem- 
per, the  Hernicans  displayed  a  pacific  spirit,   and  early  associated 

1  Livy,  i.  3-.'. 

^  "  Saxosis  in  montibus  "  (Serv.  in  Aen.  vii.  684)  ;  he  takes  them  for  Sabines. 

3  "Dives  Anagnia"  (Verg.,  Aen.  vii.  684).  Strabo  (V.  iii.  10)  calls  it  illustrious  (ttoXk 
d^ioXo;^n?). 

■»  Ferentinum,  on  the  Via  Latina,  between  Anagnia  and  Frusino;  Alatrium,  a  town  of  the 
same  nation,  is  seven  miles  from  the  former. 


OSCANS  AND  SABELLIANS. 


93 


themselves   with   the    fortune   of   the    Latins    and    Romans   against 
the  Aequians  and  Volscians. 

The  Volscians,  who  were  more  numerous,  inhabited  the  country 
between  the  land  of  the  Rutulians  and  the  mountains  which 
separate  the  upper  valleys  of  the  Liris  and  Sagrus.  The  Etrus- 
cans, who  were  for  some  time  masters  of  a  part  of  their  country, 
had  there  executed 
great  works  for  carry- 
ing ofE  the  water,  as 
they  had  done  in  the 
valleys  of  the  Arno, 
Chiana,  and  Po,  and 
had  brought  mider 
cultivation  lands 
which  yielded  thirty 
and  forty  fold.  These 
swamps,  famous  un- 
der the  name  of  the 
Pontine  Marshes,  had 
been  at  first  only  a 
vast  lagoon,  separated 
from  the  sea,  like 
that  of  Venice,  by 
the  long  islands  which  "^''^^  cltsses,  elpenor.' 

afterward  formed  the  coast  from  Astura  to  Circeii.  They  were 
Ijounded  toward  the  south  by  the  Island  of  Aea,  which  in  later  times 
was  united  to  the  continent  under  the  name  of  the  Promontory  of 
Circeii.^  The  superstitioi;s  fears  which  always  people  deep  forests 
and  wave-beaten  rocks  with  strange  and  threatening  powers,  placed 
the  abode  of  Circe,  the  dread  enchantress,  on  this  promontory,  as 
in  Celtic  tradition  the  nine  virgins  of  the  Island  of  Sein  ruled 
the  elements  in  the  stormy  seas  of  Armorica.  This  legend,  which 
appears  to  be  indigenous  around  the  mountain,  may  be  the  remains 

'  This  Etruscan  mirror,  taken  from  the  ElntskiscJie  Spiegel  of  Gerhard  (^ol.  iv.  pi. 
cdiii.),  was  found  at  Tarquiuii  in  1S63,  and  represents  Ulysses,  aided  by  Elpenor,  forcing  the 
enchantress  to  restore  the  human  form  to  his  companions,  whom  she  had  changed  into  swine. 
One  of  them  still  has  a  man's  leg.  The  three  names  in  Etruscan  characters  are :  Cerca  for 
Circe,  Uthste  for  Ulysses,  Felparun  for  Elpenor. 

^  Front.,  Epist.  iv.  4. 


94  INTRODUCTION. 

of  an  ancient  belief.  Is  not  Circe,  wliom  tlie  Greeks  con- 
nected with  the  ill-omened  family  of  the  King  of  Colchis,  but 
who  was  said  to  be  the  daughter  of  the  Siui,  doubtless  because 
in  the  morning,  when  the  plain  is  still  in  shadow,  her  mountain 
is  lighted  by  the  first  rays  of  the  rising  sun,  —  Circe,  who 
changes  forms,  and  compounds  magic  draughts  of  the  herbs-'  her 
promontory  still  bears,  ^  —  may  she  not  be  some  Pelasgian  divinity, 
a  goddess  of  medicine,  like  the  Greek  Aesculapius,  who  was 
also  an  offspring  of  the  Sun,  and  who,  fallen  with  the  defeat  of 
her  nation,  was  degraded  to  a  dread  sorceress  by  the  new 
comers  ? 

The  Volscians  of  the  coast  —  with  the  Island  of  Pontia  and 
the  stretch  of  coast  which  they  possessed ;  with  the  ports  of  An- 
tium  and  Astura,  and  that  of  Terracina,  which  has  a  circum- 
ference of  no  less  than  nine  miles ;  ^  with  the  lessons  or  example 
of  the  Etruscans,  —  could  not  fail  to  be  skilful  sailors ;  at  all  events 
they  became  formidable  pirates.  The  whole  Tyrrhenian  Sea,  as  far 
as  the  lighthouse  of  Messina,  was  infested  by  their  cruisers ;  and 
the  injuries  they  inflicted  on  the  Tarentine  commerce  nearly  re- 
sulted in  a  war  between  the  Romans  and  Alexander,  the  Molossian 
king  of  Epirus.  Yet  Rome  had  already  conquered  Antium  and 
destroyed  its  fleet. 

The  Volscians  of  the  interior  were  no  less  dreaded  in  the 
plains  of  Latium  and  Campania;  and  after  two  hundred  years  of 
war,*  Rome  only  got  rid  of  them  by  exterminating  them.  In  the 
time  of  Pliny  ^  thirty-three  villages  had  already  disappeared  in  the 


1  The  Crepis  lacera  abounds  there  (Mic.,  i.  273);  Strabo  (V.  iii.  G)  was  also  aware  that 
poisonous  herbs  grew  there  in  g^eat  numbers;  cf.  Verg.  4en.  vii.  W,  seq.  The  memory  of 
the  dread  enchantress  still  lives  there ;  and  not  long  ago  no  peasant  could  have  been  found 
who  would  dare  for  any  money  to  penetrate  into  the  grotto  said  to  be  Circe's.  (Do  Bon- 
stetten,  Voijar/e  sur  le  theatre  den  six  derniers  livres  de  I'Eneide,  p.  73.) 

2  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.  ii.  85  (87);  iii.  11  (9)  thought,  as  indeed  the  appearance  of  the 
region  proves,  that  the  promontory  of  Circeii  had  been  once  an  island,  which  some  were 
inclined  to  recognize  as  the  problematic  Island  of  Aea  of  Homer  (Odyss.  x.  135). 

'  De  Prony,  "  Mem.  sur  les  marais  Pontins."  "  Anxur  .  .  .  oppidum  vetere  fortuna 
opulentum."  —  LiVY,  iv.  59.     Cf.  Pliny,  ibid.  iii.  9. 

*  Livy,  vi.  21.  "  Volscos  velut  sorte  qiiadam  prope  in  aeternum  exereendo  Romano 
militi  datos." 

'  Pliny,  Nat.  Hi,<<t.  iii.  9  :  ■'  A  Circeiis  palus  Pomptina  est  quem  locum  xxxiii  urbium 
fuisse  Mucianus  ter  consul  prodidit."  In  the  whole  of  ancient  Latium  he  mentions  fifty-five 
ruined  towns. 


OSCANS  AND   SABELLIAJSTS.  95 

Pomptinum,    since    the    reign    of   Augustus   a   region    of    pestilence 
'  and  desolation.^ 

Between  the  Volscian  coiuitr}'  and  the  River  Liris,  in  a  moun- 
tainous region  where  but  two  narrow  roads  gave  passage  from 
Latium  into  Campania,  dwelt  the  Aurunei.  Inheriting  the  name  of 
the  great  Italian  race,  they  seem  to  have  possessed  also  its  unusual 
stature,  its  threatening  aspect,  and  its  bold  character.^  Accordingly, 
it  is  at  Formiae,  on  their  coast,  that  tradition  placed  the  abode  of 
the  giant  Laestrygones.^  But  since  historic  ages  this  race  has 
remained  obscure ;  Livy  names  the  Aurunei  only  to  relate  the 
pitiless  war  that  Rome  made  upon  them,  and  the  destruction  of 
three  of  their  towns. 

Southward  from  the  Liris  lay  the  country  known  to  the  Romans 
as  Campania,  —  a  mild  and  enervating  region,  where  no  form  of 
government  outlasted  more  than  a  few  generations,  and  the  ground 
itself,  with  its  constant  changes,  seemed  to  share  iia  the  vicissitudes 
of  human  affairs.  The  Lucrine  Lake,  once  so  celebrated,  afterward 
became  a  muddy  swamp ;  and  the  Avernus,  ''  the  mouth  of  hell," 
changed  into  a  pellucid  lake.  At  Caserna  a  tomb  has  been  found 
ninety  feet  imder  ground ;  and  the  beds  of  lava  upon  which  Hercu- 
laneum  and  Pompeii  were  built,  themselves  conceal  a  stratum  of 
productive  soil  and  traces  of  ancient  culture.  "  There,"  says  Pliny, 
"  in  that  land  of  Bacchus  and  Ceres,  where  two  spring-times  bloom, 
the  Oscans  and  Greeks,  the  Umbrians,  Etruscans,  and  Campanians, 
rivalled  one  another  in  luxury  and  effeminacy ; "  and  Strabo,  mar- 
velling that  so  many  nations  have  been  by  turns  dominant  and 
enslaved  in  this  land,  lays  the  blame  on  its  soft  sky  and  fertile 
soil,  —  whence,  says  Cicero,  come  all  vices.* 

The  Oscans  in  Campania  have  been,  since  historic  times,  only 
a  race  subject  to  foreign  masters  and  blended  with  them,  —  Greeks 
bemg  established  along  the  coast,  Etruscans  in  the  interior,  and 
Samnites  coming  down  from  the  Apennines.  A  few  Ausonian  tribes, 
such  as  the   Sidicini  of    Teanum   and  the   Aurunei  of  Cales,   alone 

'  Livj',  vi.  12:  "  Innumerabilem  multitudinem  liberorum  capitum  in  eis  fuisse  locis,  quae 
nunc,  vix  seminario  exiguo  militum  relicto,  servitia  Romana  ab  solitudine  vindicant." 

-  Dionys.,  Ant.  Rom.  vi.  32,  and  Livy,  ii.  26. 

s  Homer,  Odtjss.  x.  89,  134. 

■*  Pliny,  \at.  Hist.  iii.  9  :  "...  summum  Liberi  Patris  cum  Cerere  certamen."  Cf. 
Florus,  i.  IG  ;  Strabo,  V.  iv.  9  ;  Cicero,  tie  Lege  Arjrar.  i.  G,  7. 


96 


INTRODUCTION. 


preserved  their  lil^erty  in  the  mountains  which  separate  the  Voltur- 
nus  from  the  Liris.  In  Apulia,  on  the  other  side  of  the  peninsula, 
the  main  stock  of  the  j^opulation  was  also  of  Ausonian  origin,  as 
is  proved  by  names  of  towns  in  the  interior,  and  by  the  prevalence 
of  the  Oscan  language  through  a  great  part  of  Southern  Italy. 

The  Sabines,  from  whom  nearly  all  the  Sabellian  peoples  are 
descended,^  originally  occupied  the  high  region  of  the  Upper  Abruzzi 
around  the  head-waters  of  the  Velino,  the  Fronti,   and  the  Pescara, 


WALL   OF    AUKUNCA.^ 


a  country  where  the  gradual  melting  of  the  snows  keeps  the  pastu- 
rage good  long  after  the  sun  has  scorched  the  plains  below.  Here 
they  had  a  city,  Amiternum,  and  hence  they  came  down  upon  the 
territory  of  Reate,  driving  out  the  Casci,  while  by  way  of  Moimt 
Lucretilis  they  stretched  across  to  the  Tiber.  On  the  north  they 
crowded  the  Umbrians  back  beyond  the  Nera  ;  making  predatory 
excursions  southwards,  they  occupied  part  of  the  left  bank  of  the  Anio, 


1  "  Paterque  Sabinus"  (Verg.,  Aen.  \i\.  178). 

2  Taken  from  the  Ann.  du  Bull.,  vol.  iv.  1839. 


OSCANS  AND   SABELLIANS.  97 

and  in  the  eighth  century  they  were,  after  the  Etrv;scans,  tlie  most 
powerful  people  in  the  peninsula.' 

The  Saljines,  shepherds  and  husbandmen,  like  all  the  Sabellians, 
lived  in  villages ;  and  notwithstanding  the  large  population,  which 
l)ronglit  under  culture  and  peojiled  the  land  up  to  the  summits  of 
tlie  most  rugged  mountains,  they  had  scarce  any  towns  but  Ami- 
ternum  and  Reate.  Cures,  the  gathering-place  of  all  the  nation, 
was  only  a  large  village. 

They  were  the  Swiss  of  Italy :  their  habits  were  severe  and 
religious ;  they  were  temperate,  courageous,  and  honest  ;  they  had 
the  unostentatious  Ijut  solid  virtues  of  the  mountaineer,  and  they 
remained  in  the  eyes  of  Italy  a  living  picture  of  ancient  times.^ 
History,  which  recognizes  in  them  one  of  the  principal  elements 
of  the  Roman  population,  will  not  hesitate  to  refer  to  them  the 
frugal  and  laborious  life,  the  austere  gravity,  the  respect  for  the 
gods,  and  the  strictly  constituted  family  which  are  found  at  Rome 
in  the  early  centuries,  and  which  were  long  preserved  there .^  They 
resemble  the  ancient  Romans,  too,  in  their  contempt  for  mental 
culture,  —  in  all  their  land  not  a  single  Sabine  mscription  has 
been  found. 

When  in  these  arid  mountains  famine  seemed  imminent  or 
some  war  was  unsuccessful,  they  devoted  to  the  gods,  by  a  sacred 
spring-time  {ver  sacrum),  everything  which  was  born  in  March  or 
April.  <Even  children  were  offered  in  sacrifice.  In  later  times 
the  gods  grew  milder,  only  cattle  were  immolated  or  redeemed ; 
and  the  children,  when  they  reached  the  age  of  twenty,  were 
conducted  with  veiled  heads  out  of  the  territory,  like  those  Scan- 
dinavian hordes,  which,  at  fixed  epochs,  the  law  drove  from  the 
land  in  order  to  prevent  famine.  Oftentimes  the  god  himself 
protected  these  young  colonies,  sacranae  acies  vel  Mamertini,  and 
sent  them  divine  guides.  Thus  of  the  animals  sacred  to  Mars, 
a  woodpecker  (picus)  led  the  Piceni ;  a  wolf  [hbyus)  the  Hirpini ; 
and  a  wild  bull  the  Sanniites.* 

1  Livy,  i.  30. 

*  ".  .  .  .Severissimorum  liominum,  SalMiiorum"  (Cic,  in  Vat.  15;  pro  Lig.  2).  "  Dis- 
ciplina  tetrica  ac  tristi  veterum  Sabinorum "  (Livy,  i.   18). 

^  Verg.,  Georij.  ii.  532;  Servius  in  Aen.  viii.  C38  :  "Sabinorum  mores  populiim  Roma- 
num  secutum  Cato  dicit." 

*  Fest.  s.v.  "ver  sacrum;"  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.  iii.  18.     During  the  Second  Punic  War  the 

VOL.   I.  7 


98 


INTRODUCTION. 


COIN   or    TEATE,    CAPITAL    OF    THE 
MARIiUCINI.'^ 


"  From  the  Sabines,"  says  Pliny/  "  the  Picentines  are  descended, 
by  a  sacred  spring-time."  But  too  many  different  races  occupied 
this  coast  for  an  unmixed  people  to  have  resulted  therefrom.  In 
their  fertile  valleys  the  Picentines  remained  unaffected  by  all  the 
Italian  wars,  and  multiplied  at  leisure.  Pliny  asserts^  that  when 
they  submitted  to  Rome,  in  268,  they  were  360,000  in  number. 
Among  them  were  counted  the  Praetutians,  who  formed  a  distinct 

nation,  settled  in  the  high  lands. 
By  a  singular  chance,  it  was  these 
poor  mountaineers,  scarce  known  to 
the  historians  of  Rome,  who  gave 
their  name  to  the  centre  of  the 
peninsula,  the  Al)ruzzi. 

The  vast  province  commonly 
called  by  the  name  of  the  Sam- 
nium,  and  which  includes  all  the  mountains  south  of  Picenum, 
and  the  Sabine  land  as  far  as  Magna' Graecia,  was  divided  between 
two  confederations,  formed  of  what  were  held  to  be  the  bravest 
nations  in  Italy. 

In  the  first  league  the  Marsi  and  Peligni  were  most  renowned 
for  their  coux'age.  "  Who  shall  triumph  over  the  Marsi,  or  with- 
out the  Marsi  ? "  *  said  they.  Next 
to  the  Etruscan  aruspex  there  were 
no  diviners  more  celebrated'for  their 
skill  in  reading  signs,  especially  the 
flight  of  birds,  than  those  of  the 
Marsians.  Among  them  we  meet 
again  with  the  ^Js//Z/J  of  Egypt  and 
the   physician-sorcerers    of    the    natives    of    the    New   World,   who 

Romans  made  a  similar  vow,  witli  the  exception  of  the  proscription  of  cliildren  (Livy,  xxii.  9). 
Sabine  traditions  said,  too,  that  Semo  Sanctis,  also  named  Dius  Fidius,  the  divine  author  of 
the  Sabellian  race,  had  substituted  rites  free  from  blood  for  human  sacrifices  (Dionysius, 
Ant.  Rom.  i.  38). 

1  Hill.  Nat.  iii.  13. 

-  Ibid. 

'  On  the  obverse,  a  head  of  Pallas,  above,  five  o's,  the  sign  of  the  quincunx ;  on  the 
reverse,  this  same  mark,  a  crescent,  an  owl  standing  on  a  caiiital,  and  the  word  tiati. 

■•  Appian,  Bellum  civile,  i.  4G.  "Genus  acre  virum"  (Verg.,  Georg.  ii.  1G7).  "  Fortissi- 
morum  virorum,  Marsorum  et  Paelignorum"  (Cic,  in  Vaiin.  15). 

^  A  head  of  Mercury  with  the  word  FUENTnEN  in  Oscan  characters ;  on  the  reverse, 
Pegasus  flying. 


COIN    OF    THE    FRENTANI.^ 


OSCANS   AND  SAEELLIANS.  9i) 

healed  with  the  simples  gathered  in  their  momrtains,  and  with 
their  magic  incantations,  neniae}  One  family,  which  never  inter- 
married with  the  rest,  had  the  gift  of  charming  vipers,  with  which 
the  country  of  the  Marsians  abounded,  and  of  rendering  their 
bites  harmless.^  In  the  time  of  Elagabalus  the  reputation  of  the 
Marsiau  sorcerers  still  remained ;  even  to  this  day  the  jugglers 
who  go  to  Rome  and  Naples  to  astonish  the  people  by  their  tricks 
with  serpents,  whose  poisoiious  fangs  they  have  extracted,  always 
come  from  what  was  once  the  Lake  of  Celano  {Fucinus^).  Now  it 
is  St.  Dominic  of  Cullino  who  bestows  this  power;  three  thousand 
years  ago  it  was  a  goddess  held  in  great  veneration  in  those  same 
places,  the  enchantress  Angitia,  sister  of  Circe,  or  perhaps  Medea 
herself,  of  the  gloomy  race  of  Aeetes.  Names  change,  but  super- 
stition endures,  when  men  remain  under  the  influences  of  the 
same  places  and  in  the  same  state  of  ignorance. 

The  country  of  the  Marsians  and  Pelignians,  situated  in  the 
heart  of  the  Apennines,  was  the  coldest  in  the  peninsula :  *  thus 
the  flocks,  which  in  summer  left  the  scorched  plains  of  Apulia, 
went  then,  as  they  do  now,  to  feed  in  the  cool  valleys  of  the 
Pelignians,  who  moreover  produced  excellent  wax  and  the  finest 
of  flax.*^  Their  stronghold  of  Corfinium  was  chosen  during  the 
Social  war  to  serve,  under  the  signiflcant  name  of  Italica,  as  the 
capital  of  the  Italians  who  had  risen  against  Rome. 

The  other  g-reat  Sabellian  leas:ue  consisted  of  the  Samnite 
people,  who  had  more  brilliant  destinies,  great  riches,  a  name 
dreaded  as  far  as  Sicily,  as  far  even  as  Greece,  but  who  paid  for 
all  this  glory  by  fearful  disasters  Being  led,  according  to  their 
legends,  from  the  country  of  the  Sabines  to  the  mountains  of 
Beneventum  by  the  wild  bull  whose  image  is  found  on  the  coins 
of  the  Social  war,  the  Samnites  mingled  with  the  Ausonian  tribes, 

1  Cf.  Hor.,  Epnd.  xvii.  29. 

-  "  Spargere  qwi  somnos  cantuque  maniujue  .solebat, 
Mulcebatque  iras  et  morsus  arte  levabat." 

Vergil  :  Aeneid,  vii.   754. 

*  Lake  Fucinus,  the  area  of  which  was  37,500  acres,  and  the  depth  58  feet,  was  drained 
by  Prince  Turlouia  between  Aug.  9,  1862,  and  tlie  end  of  .Tune,  1875. 

^  The  ancients  had  a  proverbial  saying,  Peligna  friyora  and  Marsae  nivcs  ;  now  thej-  say 
freddo  d'  Abruzzo. 

'  Pliny,  Nat.  Hi.tt.  xi.  14;  xLx.  2. 


100 


INTKODUCTIOK 


who  remained  in  the  Apennines,  and  spread  from  hill  to  hill  as 
far  as  Apulia-.  While  the  Candini  and  Hirpini^  .settled  on  the 
slopes  of  Mount  Taburnus,  the  foot  of  which  reached  to  a  valley 
rendered  famous  Ijy  them  under  the  name  of  the  Caudine  Forks, 
the  Frentani  established  themselves  near  the  upper  sea,  and  irreg- 
ular bands  of  them  passed  over  the  Silarus  and  formed  on  the 
further  side  the  nation  of  the  Lucanians,  which  early  separated 
itself  from  the  league.     This  was  composed  of  four  nations  [Cara- 

ceni,  Pentri,  Hirpini,  and  Caudini), 
to  whom  Ijelongs  more  particularly 
the  glorious  name  of  Samnites. 

Their  country,  surrounded  by 
the  Sangro,  Volturno,  and  Galore, 
is  covered  with  rugged  mountains 
(the  Matese),  which  preserve  the 
snow  until  May,^  and  of  which  the 
highest  peak,  Mount  Miletto,  rises 
to  6,500  feet.  Thus  the  flocks 
found  fresh  pasturage  and  abundant 
springs  among  these  high  valleys 
during  the  scorching  summer. 
These  constituted  the  wealth  of 
the  country.  Their  produce  sold 
in  the  Greek  towns  on  the  coast ; 
the  pay  which  they  often  received 
under  the  title  of  auxiliary  troops ; 
but,  above  all,  the  booty  which  they 
brought  back  from  their  raids  into 
Magna  Graecia,  accumulated  great  wealth  in  the  hands  of  these 
warlike  shepherds.  In  the  time  of  the  war  against  Rome  the 
abvindance  of  bronze  in  Samniiun  was  so  great  that  the  younger 
Papirius  carried  off  more  than  two  million  pounds  of  it ;  ^  and 
his  colleague  Carvilius  had  made,  with  nothing  but  the  armor 
taken  from  the  Samnite  foot-soldiers,  a  colossal  statue  of  Jupiter, 
which  he    placed  on    the    Capitol,   and   which  could   be   seen  from 


SAMNITE    WARRIOR,    AFTER    A    PAINTED 
VASE    IN    THE    LOUVRE. 


'  Festus,  s.  V.  Hirpinos ;  cf.  Strabo,  V.  iv.  12;  Serv.  in  Aen.  xi.  173. 
^  Keppel-Craven,  Excursion  in  the  Ahruzzi. 
«  Livy,  X.  46. 


OSCANS  AND   SAEELLIANS. 


lUl 


the  summit  of  tlic;  Alban  Mount.^  Like  all  warrior-nations,  the 
Samnites  exhibited  their  luxury  in  their  armor ;  Ijright  colors 
shone  on  their  war-dress,  gold  and  silver  on  their  bucklers.  Each" 
soldier  of  the  higher  classes,  arming  at  his  own  c(jst,  was  anxious 
to  prove  his  valor  by  the  splendor  of  his  arms.  And  yet  the 
wealth  of  the  army  does  not  imply  the  wealth  of  the  people. 

Calculating  according  to  the  numbers  furnished  by  the  historians 
of  Rome,  the  population  of  Samnium  has  been  rated  at  two 
million  souls.^  This  result  is  an  evident  exaggeration,  like  the 
premises  on  which  it  rests.  If  the  Sam- 
nites were  not  able  to  arm  against  Rome 
more  than  80,000  foot  soldiers  and 
8,000  cavalry,  their  population  must 
have  amounted  at  the  most  to  600,000 
inhabitants.      But    it    was    sufficient    for  ^'^^'^^  «*^  samxium.^ 

these  stout  soldiers,  sometimes  united  under  the  supreme  command 
of  an  embradur  (imperator),  to  spread  their  niids  and  conquests 
all  around  their  mountains.  Their  principal  wealth  consisted  in 
their  flocks ;  but  for  six  or  seven  months  the  snow  covered  the 
pasture  in  the  mountains,  so  that  it  was  necessary  to  descend  in- 
to the  plains.*  Hence  came  continual  wars  with  neighboring 
nations. 

Though  united  in  the  same  league,  the  four  Samnite  nations 
each  formed  under  its  meddix  tuticus  a  distinct  and  sovereign 
society,  which  often  neglected  the  general  interest  to  follow  out 
particular  enterprises.  These  sons  of  Mars,  whose  ancestors  re- 
ligion and  policy  had  exiled,  remained  faithful  to  their  origin. 
They  pi^eferred  to  the  bonds  which  give  strength,  the  isolation 
which  first  gives  liberty,  but  presently  promotes  slavery. 

1  Pliny,  Nat.  Hisl.  xxxiv.  7  (IS). 

-  Micali,  Storia,  etc.  i.  287. 

'  Obverse,  lielmeted,  tlie  head  of  Mars,  with  the  words  Mulii  emhradur,  in  Oscan  charac- 
ters; reverse,  two  chiefs  taking  oath  over  a  pig,  which  a  kneehng  soldier  holds,  and  the 
legend  c.paapi  for  Papius,  in  Oscan  characters.  One  C.  Papius  Mutilus  was  emhradur  oi 
the  Samnites  in  the  Social  AVar,  90  —  89  b.  c. 

^  We  know  that  the  tribnte  levied  on  the  cattle  which  passed  from  the  plains  to  the 
mountains  in  summer  and  back  again  in  winter  was  the  principal  revenue  of  the  kingdom  of 
Naples,  in  later  times  nearly  £800,000  per  annum.  The  kings  of  Arragon  had  forced  the 
tenants  of  the  crown  in  ApiJia  to  let  the  flocks  of  the  Abruzzi  pasture  in  their  fields  in 
winter.  In  our  own  days  the  landlords  of  Apulia  were  obliged  to  keep  two  thirds  of  their 
land  for  grazing;  sec  Keppcl-Cravcn,  Excursion  in  the  Abruzzi,  1,207,  and  Symonds,  p.  241. 


102  INTEODUCTION. 

If  the  thirteen  Sabellian  nations  had  been  united,  Italy  was 
theirs.  But  the  Lucanians  were  at  enmity  with  the  Samnites,  the 
latter  with  the  Marsic  confederation,  the  Marsians  with  the 
Sabmes,  and  the  Picentines  remained  strangers  to  all  the  moun- 
taineers' quarrels.  Yet  Rome,  which  represented,  as  no  other 
ancient  State  had  ever  done,  the  opposite  principle  of  political 
unity,  only  triumphed  after  the  most  painful  efforts,  and  by  ex- 
terminating this  indomitable  population.^  She  was,  moreover,  com- 
pelled to  undertake  the  work  of  destruction  twice  over.  The 
Samnite  and  Second  Punic  wars  had  already  made  many  ruins 
and  solitudes ;  but  when  the  vengeance  of  Sulla  had  passed  over 
that  desolated  land,  Florus  could  say :  "  In  Samnium  itself  it  would 
be  vain  to  seek  for  Samnium."  The  ruin  was  so  complete  that 
only  a  few  monuments  of  those  people  are  left  us ;  and  more  than 
twenty  of  their  towns  have  disappeared  without  leaving  any 
trace  behind. 

On  the  south-east,  Tarentum  and  the  great  towns  of  Apulia 
stayed  the  Samnites ;  but  towards  the  west  the  Etruscans  of 
Campania  were  unalile  to  defend  that  rich  territory  against  them. 
Tired  of  their  continual  expeditions,  the  Etruscans  thought  to  buy 
peace  by  sharing  with  the  Samnites  their  fields  and  towns.  One 
night  they  were  surprised  and  massacred  (about  423) ;  Vulturnum 
took  the  name  of  Capua,  and  that  of  Campanians  distinguished  the 
new  masters  of  the  country.^  The  great  Greek  city,  Ciimae, 
was   then   taken   by   assault,    and    a  Campanian  colony  replaced  a 

part  of  the  massacred  inhabitants ;  yet 
without  making  the  Oscan  language 
and  Sabellian  customs  supersede  the 
Greek.^  These  herdsmen,  who  in  their 
mountains  raised  fine  breeds  of  horses,* 
MEDAL  OF  TEKINA.6  becamc    lu    tliB    Campauiau    plains    the 

best  horsemen  of  the  peninsula ;  and  the 

1  Livy,  and  after  him  all  the  historians  of  Kome,  have  exaggerated  this  depopidation 
of  Samnium,  since  according  to  the  census  preserved  by  Polybius,  that  country  could 
furnish  77,000  soldiers  after  the  First  Punic  War. 

^  Diod.  xii.  31  :  TO  Wvns  tuv  Kafiiravioi/  (rvvttm). 

s  See  Livy,  xl.  42,  where  the  Cumaeans  demand  the  substitution  of  Latin  for  Greek  in 
pubKc  records. 

*  Especially  in  those  of  the  Hirpini,  whose  country  still  rears  an  excellent  breed. 

*  Silver  coin :  obverse,  a  woman's  head ;  reverse,  the  nymph  Lygea  seated. 


OSCANS  AND  SABELLIANS.  103 

renown  wliiili  this  conquest  won  for  tlieni  led  the  way  to  more. 
To  the  north,  east,  and  soutli  they  were  .surrounded  by  dithcult 
countries  and  warlike  nations,  which  blocked  the  road  to  fresh 
enterprises ;  but  the  sea  remained  open,  and  they  knew  that 
beyond  the  gulfs  of  Paestum  and  Terina  there  was  booty  to  be 
obtained  and  adventures  to  be  foiuid  in  Sicily.  Under  the  ancient 
and  expressive  name  of  Mamertines,  the  Campaniau  horsemen 
offered  to  serve  any  one  who  would  pay  them.  The  rivah-y  be- 
tween the  Greek  cities,  the  ambition  of  the  tyrants  of  Syracuse, 
the  Carthaginian  invasion,  and  the  ceaseless  war  which  desolated 
the  whole  island,  always  provided  them  with  purchasers  for  their 
valor ;  and  this  ti'ade  of  mercenaries  became  so  lucrative  that 
all  the  bravest  of  the  Campanian  youth  passed  over  into  the 
island,  where  the  Mamertines  were  soon  numerous  enough  to 
lay  down  the  law  and  take  their  own  way. 

But  whilst  beyond  the  straits  they  were  become  a  power  against 
Avhich  Carthage,  Syracuse,  and  Pyrrhus  strove  in  vain,  their  towns 
on  the  banks  of  the  Vulturnus  were  bemg  enfeebled  by  the  same 
migrations  which  increased  the 
military  colony  in  Sicily.  As 
early  as  the  middle  of  the  fourth 
century,  at  Cumae,  Nola,  and 
Nuceria,  the  ancient  inhabitants 
became  masters  again ;  and  if 
Capua  maintained  its  supremacy 
over  the  neighboring  towns,  it  was  only  by  losing  all  its  Sabellian 
character.  The  effeminacy  of  the  ancient  manners  reappeared,  but 
stained  with  more  cruelty.  In  funeral  ceremonies  there  were  com- 
bats of  gladiators  in  honor  of  the  dead ;  in  the  midst  of  the 
most  sumptuous  feasts,  games  of  blood  to  enliven  the  guests,"  and 
constant  murder  and  treason  in  public  life. 

We  have  seen  how  the  Samnites  possessed  themselves  of  the 
town  by  the  massacre  of  their  entertainers ;  the  first  Roman  soldiers 
who  were  placed  there,  wished,  according  to  their  example,  to  put 
the   inhabitants    to   death.     During   the    Second  Punic  War,  Capua 

1  Laurel-crowned  head  of  Jupiter;  two  soldiers  joining  swords,  taking  the  oath  over  a 

pig- 

-  Athenaeus,  iv.  31);  Livv,  ix.  40  ;  Silius,  xi.  51. 


COIN    OF    CAPUA.l 


104 


INTRODUCTION. 


COIN    OF    LUCANIA.l 


sealed  her  alliance  with  the  Carthaginians  by  the  blood  of  all  the 
Romans  settled  within  her  walls,  and  Perolla  wished  at  his  father's 
table  to  stal)  Hannibal.  When,  finally,  the  legions  re-entered  it,  all 
the  senators  of  Cajiua  celebrated  their  own  funeral  rites  at  a  joyous 

feast,  and  drank  poison  in  the  last 
cup.  No  history  is  more  bloody, 
and  nowhere  was  life  ever  more 
effeminate. 

The  Lucanians  had  a  destiny 
both  less  sad  and  less  brilliant. 
Following  the  chain  of  the  Apen- 
nines, this  people  entered  ancient  Oenotria,  the  coasts  of  which  were 
occupied  b}^  Greek  cities,  and  where  Sybaris  ruled  from  the  Gulf  of 
Paestum  to  that  of  Tarentum.  After  having  slowly  increased  in 
the  mountains,  their  population  came  down  upon  the  cultivated 
territory  of  the  Greek  cities,  and  towards  the  middle  of  the  fifth 
century,  Pandosia,  with  the  neighboring  towns,  fell  into  their  power. 
Masters  of  the  western    shores,  they    turned    towards    those   of    the 

Gulf  of  Tarentum,  and  placed 
the  Greeks,  already  menaced  on 
the  south  Ijy  the  tyrants  of 
Syracuse,  between  two  dangers. 
Towards  430  b.  c,  they  were  al- 
ready contending  against  Thurii ; 
and  such  was  their  ,  progress 
in  the  space  of  thirty-six  years, 
notwithstanding  their  small  number,  which  did  not  exceed  34,000 
combatants,^  that  a  great  defensive  league,  tlie  first  that  the 
Greeks  of  this  coast  had  made,  was  formed  against  them  and 
Diouysius  of  Syracuse.  The  penalty  of  death  was  pronounced 
against  the  chief  of  the  city  whose  troops  should  not  have  assem- 
bled at  the  first  news  of  the  approach  of  the  barbarians  (394  b.  c.).* 
These  measures  were  fruitless ;  three  years  afterward,  all  the 
youth    of   Tluu'ii,   desirous    of   recapturing   the    city    of   Laus,  were 


COIN    OF    TnURII.- 


*  Helmeted  head  of  Mars  ;  reverse  Bellona. 

^  Head  of  Minerva,  and  the  bull  so  frequently  found  on  the  coins  of  Southern  Italy. 

*  Diodorus,  xiv.  101-102. 

*  Ibil.  01. 


OSCANS   AND    SABELLIANS.  105 

destroyed  in  a  battle  \Yliieh  gave  almost  the  whole  of  Calabria 
into  the  hands  of  the  Liicaiiians.'  Diouysiiis  the  Younger, 
frightened  in  his  turn,  in  spite  of  a  treaty  concluded  with  them 
m  3G0  B.  c.,'-^  traced  from  the  Clulf  of  Scylachnn  to  that  of  Hipjw- 
nium  a  line  of  defence,  intended  to  protect  his  Italian  possessions 
against  them.^ 

This  period  marked  the  greatest  extension  of  the  Lucanians. 
Thenceforth  they  did  nothing  but  give  way,  enfeebled  as  they 
were  by  the  lack  of  harmony  between  their  different  cantons,  each 
of  which  had  its  peculiar  laws  and  its  chief  (meddix  or  praefucus). 
Towards  356  b.  c,  the  Bruttians  make  their  appearance,  whose 
revolt  was  countenanced  Ijy  Dionysius ;  and  little  Ijy  little  the 
frontier  of  Lucania  receded  as  far  as  Laus  and  the  Crathis.  Slnit 
in  on  the  south  by  the  Bruttians,  who  were  as  brave  as  them- 
selves, they  sought  compensation  at  the  expense  of  the  Greeks 
on  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Tarentum  ;  but  tliis  was  only  to  call 
down  upon  them  the  arms  of  Archidamos,  of  Alexander  the 
Molossian,  and  of  the  Spartan  Cleonymus.  Later,  their  attacks 
on  Thurii  brought  on  the  war  with  Rome  which  cost  them  their 
independence. 

Of  all  the  Sabellian  peoples,  the  Lucanians  seem  to  have  re- 
mained the  most  inipolished,  and  most  eager  for  war  and  destruc- 
tion. The  civilization  which  surrounded  them  was  not  powerful 
enough  to  penetrate  into  those  rugged  mountains,  into  those  deep 
forests,  where  they  sent  their  sons  to  hunt  the  bear,  the  wild 
boar,  and  other  game,  in  oi'der  to  accustom  them  early  to  danger.* 
Not  very  numerous,  and  often  divided,  they  nevertheless  kept  the 
conquered  population  rigorousl}'  enslaved,  and  extinguished  in  them 
even  that  Greek  culture  which  had  such  vitality.  "Having  been 
barbarized,"  says  Athenaeus  ^  of  the  inhabitants  of  Posidonia, 
" having   lost  even  their  language,  they  had    at    least    preserved  a 

^  From  Pandosia  to  Thurium,  and  even  as  far  as  Rliegium,  Scyla.x,  who  wrote  about 
o70  n.  c,  knows  nothing  but  Lucanians  all  along  the  coast. 

-  Died.,  xvi.  5. 

3  Strab.,  VI.  i.  10. 

*  Justin,  xxiii.  1.  [The  wild  boar  and  the  wolf  are  still  found  in  these  mountains,  espe- 
cially in  the  wild  forests  of  the  Sila.  —  Ed.] 

5  Justin,  xiv.  31.  [It  is  difficult  to  conceive  any  real  forgetfulness  of  their  Hellenic 
culture,  with  the  splendid  temples  before  them,  and  which  now,  even  in  their  ruin,  are  among 
the  finest  and  most  suggestive  remains  which  modern  Hellenists  can  study.  —  Ed.~\ 


106  INTEODUCTION. 

Greek  festival,  during  wliicli  they  gathered  together  to  re-awaken 
the  ancient  traditions,  to  recall  the  beloved  names  and  their  lost 
country;  and  then  they  parted  weeping,"  —  a  sad  and  touching 
custom,  which  attests  a  hard  slavery.  At  the  extremity  of  Eastern 
Calabria  (the  land  of  Otranto),  inscriptions  have  Ijeen  found  which 
cannot  be  assigned  to  any  known  dialect.''  They  had  been  left 
there  by  the  lapygians,  one  of  the  most  ancient  nations  of  the 
peninsula.  They  seem  to  have  ruled  as  far  as  AjnUia,  but  were 
early  brought  under  Hellenic  influence,  and  began  early  to  lose 
their  nationality  among  the  Greek  colonists. 


6EEEKS  AND  GAULS. 

"TTTE  have  just  spoken  of  truly  Italian  races,  of  those,  at  least, 
'  '  who,  with  the  exception  of  the  Etruscans,  made  use  of  a 
sister  language  to  the  Hellenic,  and  who  gave  to  Rome  its  popu- 
lation, its  manners,  and  its  laws.  There  remain  two  nations  to 
study,  the  Greeks  and  the  Gauls,  who  established  themselves  later 
in  the  peninsula.  The  latter  harassed  it  for  a  long  time  by  their 
raids  for  plunder ;  the  former  opened  it  up  to  Hellenic  civilization. 
A  few  years  ago  Greek  was  still  spoken  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Locri ;  ^  in  the  Calabrias,  a  sort  of  sacred  dance  resembles  that 
which  is  represented  on  antique  vases ;  and  at  Cardeto  the  women 
have  so  well  preserved  the  type  of  Hellenic  beauty,  that  it  is 
said  of  them,  "  They  are  Minervas."  In  the  same  way  it  has 
been  thought  that,  from  Turin  to  Bologna,  the  persistent  traces 
of  the  Celtic  invasion  ^  are  to  be  seen  in  the  features  and  in 
the  comparatively  harsh  and  guttural  accent  of  the  Piedmontese, 
Lombards,  and  Romagnols.' 

1  [These  Messapian  texts  are  being  deciphered  by  Deecke,  and  are  related  to  Italic 
dialects.  —  Ed.'] 

-  [There  are  also  five  villages  near  Bari,  where  a  Greek  patois  is  still  spoken ;  but  Lenor- 
mant  has  lately  proved,  in  his  interesting  work  on  Magna  Graecia,  that  all  these  remains  of 
Greek  date  from  the  repopulation  of  these  parts  of  the  Byzantine  Empire  in  the  ninth- 
eleventh'  centuries  A.  d.,  and  not  from  old  classical  times.  —  Ed.] 

*  Dr.  Edwards,  in  his  letter  to  Am.  Thierry. 


GliKKKS   AND   GAULS. 


107 


The  history  of  the  Greek  colonies  in  Italy  is  divided  into  two 
epochs.  About  tlie  one,  commencing  in  the  eighth  century  before 
our  era,  there  can  l)e  no  doubt ;  ^  the  other,  ascribed  to  the  four- 
teenth century,  has  all  historical  probabilities  against  it.  It  is 
of  course  possible  that,  in  the  times  which  followed  the  Trojan 
Wal',  after  that  great  disturbance  of  Greece,  Hellenic  troops,  driven 
out  of  the  mother  country  by  revolutions,  landed  on  the  shores 
of  Italy.  But  as  to  what  is  said  of  the  settlement  of  Diomede 
in  Daunia,  or  among  the  Veneti,  who  in  the  time  of  Strabo  sacri- 
ficed a  white  horse  to  him  every  year;  of  the  companions  of  Nestor 
at  Pisa,  of  Idomeneus  at  Salentum,  —  although  Gnossus  in  Crete 
held   his    tomb,  —  of   Philoctetes  at  Petelia   and    Thurii,   of   Epeus 


?JV-£* 


RUINS  OF  THE  TEMPLE  OF  METAPOXTUM  (tAVOLA  DEI  PALADINl). 

at  Metapontum,  of  Ulysses  at  Scylacium,  of  Evander,  of  Tilmr, 
of  Telegonus,  son  of  Ulysses,  in  Latium,  at  Tusculum,  Tibur,  Prae- 
neste,  Ardea,  etc.,  —  these  legends,  we  may  say,  can  only  be  re- 
garded as  poetical  traditions  invented  by  rhapsodists  in  order  to 
give  an  illustrious  origin  to  these  towns. 


*  [On  these  eighth-century  dates,  and  their  invention,  cf.  my  IlUlory  of  Greek  Literature, 
vol.  i.,  A  pp.  B.  —  Ed.} 


108  INTEODUCTION. 

Notliing  was  wanting  to  sanction  these  glorious  genealogies : 
neither  the  songs  of  the  poets,  nor  the  blind  or  interested  credulity 
of  the  historians,  nor  even  the  venerated  relics  of  the  heroes.  On 
the  banks  of  the  Nnmiciiis  the  contemporaries  of  Augustus  used 
to  visit  the  tomb  of  Aeneas,  who  had  become  the  Jupiter  Indigetes, 
and  every  year  the  consuls  and  Roman  pontiffs  offered  sacrifices 
there.  Circeii  exhibited  the  cup  of  Ulysses  and  the  tomb  of  Elpe- 
nor,  one  of  his  companions ;  ^  Lavinium,  the  undecaying  ships  of 
Aeneas  ^  and  his  Penates ;  Thurii,  the  bow  and  arrows  of  Hercules, 
given  ]jy  Philoctetes ;  Macella,  the  tomb  of  this  hero ;  Metapontum, 
the  iron  tools  which  Epeus  used  for  making  the  Trojan  horse  ;  ^ 
Luceria,  the  armor  of  Diomede;*  Maleventum,  the  boar's  head 
of  Calydon ;  Cumae,  the  tusks  of  th^  Erymanthian  boar.  Thus 
the  inhal^itants  of  a  town  of  Armenia  exhibited  the  remains  of 
Noah's  Ark.^ 

No  one  any  longer  holds  to  these  fabulous  origins,  except  those 
people  of  Rome  who  still  say  :  Slamo  Romanl,  and  would  willingly 
say  like  the  Paduans :  Sangue  Troiano.  Moreover,  even  if  we 
considered  as  authentic  the  first  settlements  of  the  Greek  race  in 
Italy,  we  could  not  allow  them  any  historical  importance ;  for, 
left  without  intercourse  with  the  mother-country,  they  lost  the 
character  of  Hellenic  cities ;  and  when  the  Greeks  arrived  in  the 
eighth  century,  they  found  no  further  trace  of  these  uncertain 
colonies.  To  this  class  of  legendary  narratives  belong  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  Trojan  Antenor,  founder  of  Padua,  and  of  Aeneas  carry- 
ing into  Latium  the  Palladium  of  Troy.  The  Roman  noljles  desired 
to  date  from  the  Trojan  War,  like  the  French  from  the  Crusaders. 

Accordmg  to  Herodotus,  the  first  Greeks  established  in  lapygia 
were  Cretans  whom  a  tempest  had  cast  there.  Induced  by  the 
fertility  of  the  soil,  they  had  burned  their  ships  and  built  Iria  in 
the  intericjr  of  the  country.  But  the  most  ancient  Grecian  colony 
of  which  the  estaljlisliment  is  beyond  doubt,  is  that  of  the  Chal- 
cidians,  founders  of  Cumae.  Led  by  Hippocles  and  Megasthenes, 
they  ventured,  says  tradition,  across  unknown  seas,  guided  in  the 
daytime    by   a   dove,   and    at    night    by    the    sound   of   the    mystic 

>  Strabo,  V.  iii.  6.  *  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  iii.  26. 

2  Procopius,  iv.  22.  '  Jos.,    Ant.  Jud.  xx.  2. 

'  Justin,  XX.  2. 


GREEKS   AND   GAULS.  109 

l)i-onz(>.'  They  built  Cumao  on  a  promontory  which  commands  the 
sea  and  the  neighboring  plains,  opposite  the  Isle  of  Ischia.  Its 
prosperity  was  so  rapid,  owing  to  a  position  in  the  middle  of  the 
Tyrrhenian  coast,  facing  the  Ijest  ports  and  in  the  most  fertile 
comitry  of  Italy,  that  the  colon}'  was  alile  to  become  in  its  turn  a 
metropolis,^  to  assist  Rome  and  the  Latins,  in  the  time  of  Porsenna, 
to  shake  off  tlie  yoke  of  tlie  Etruscans  of  the  north,  and  to  eon> 
tend  on  its  own  account  with  tliose  of  Campania.  The  battle  (^f 
the  year  47-4  b.  c.  resounded  as  far  as  Greece,  where  Pindar  cele- 
brated it.  But  in  420  b.  c.  the  Samnites  entered  Cumae.  Yet,  not- 
withstanding the  estrangement,  and  in  sjiite  of  the  barbarians.  Cumae 
remained  for  a  long  time  Greek  in  language,  manners,  and  memories ; 
and  every  time  a  danger  menaced  Greece,  she  thouglit  in  her  grief 
that  she  saw  her  gods  weeping.^  These  tears  repaid  the  songs  of 
Pindar.* 

In  this  volcanic  land,  near  the  Phlegraeau  Fields  and  the  dark 
Avernus,  the  Greeks  believed  themselves  to  be  at  the  gates  of 
Hades.  Cumae,  where,  according  to  some  tradition,  Ulj'sses  had 
evoked  the  shades,  became  the  al^ode  of  one  of  the  Sibyls  and  of 
the  cleverest  necromancers  of  Italv ;  each  year  many  awestruck 
pilgrims  visited  the  holy  place,  to  the  great  profit  of  the  inhabi- 
tants.^ It  was  there,  too,  in  this 
outpost  of  Greek  civilization,  in  tlie 
midst  of  these  lonians  full  of  the 
Homeric  spirit,  that  the  legends 
were  elaborated  which  brous;ht  so 
man}^  heroes  from  Greece  into  Italy. 


^ 


COIN   OF    CUMAE.^ 


'  Strabo,  V.  iv.  4  :  ■aaatav  eWt  irpfo'^vTaTr)  tS>v  t€  SixeXiKui'  Kai  tS>v  'iraKtaiTlSav.  With  the 
Clialciilians  were  mingled  colonists  from  Cyme,  on  the  coasts  of  Asia  Alinor,  where  Homer  sang. 
Tlie  father  of  Hesiod  was  born  at  Cj-me,  and  Ilcsiod  mentions  Latinus  as  the  son  of  Ulysses 
and  Circe.     Euseliius  in  his  Chronicle  places  this  event  in  1050.     It  is  a  very  remote  date. 

-  Cumae  founded  Dicaearchia  or  Pulcoli,  which  served  as  its  port,  Parthenope,  and  Xcapulis, 
which  eclipsed  it.  Naples  reckoned  also  amongst  its  founders  Athenians  and  Eretrians. 
I'hese  were  first  settled  in  the  Island  of  Ischia,  whence  they  had  been  driven  by  a  volcaxuc 
eruption  (Strab.,  V.  iv.  9).  Avernus  and  the  Lucrine  Lake  abounded  in  fish:  "vcctigalia 
magna  praebebant"  (Serv.  in  Georg.  ii.  10). 

^  The  miracle  of  the  tears  of  AjioUo  of  Cumae  was  renewed  at  the  time  of  the  war  of 
-Vristonicus  and  Antiochus. 

^  [No  one  would  have  been  less  content  with  such  remuneration  than  Pindar.  —  Ed.'\ 

5  Cic,  r«-sr.  i.  5. 

^  A  woman's  head,  and  on  the  reverse  the  monster  Scylla,  which  defended  the  entrance  of 
the  Strait  of  Messina.     The  'S.KvWaiov  was  the  rock  which  bounds  Rriiltium  on  the  West. 


110  INTRODUCTION. 

After  Cumae  and  its  direct  colonies,  the  most  famous  of  which 
is  the  New  City,  Naples,  the  other  Chalcidian  cities  were  Zancle, 
afterward  called  Messina,  and  Rhegium,  both  of  which  guarded  the 
entrance  to  the  Straits  of  Sicily,  but  whose  military  position  was 
too  important  not  to  draw  upon  them  numerous  calamities.  The 
Mamertines,  who  took  Messina  by  surprise  and  massacred  all 
its  male  population,  only  did  what,  some  years  later,  a  Roman 
legion  repeated  at  Rhegium. 

The  Dorians,  who  ruled  in  Sicily,  were  less  numerous  in  Italy ; 
but  they  had  Tarentum,  wliicli  rivalled  in  power  and  wealth 
Sybaris  and  Croton,  and  which  preserved  its  independence  longer 
than  these  two  towns.^  Rich  offerings,  deposited  at  the  temple  of 
Delphi,  still  bore  witness,  in  the  time  of  Pausanias,  to  its  victories 
over  the  lapygians,  Messapians,  and  Peucetians.     It  had  also  raised 

to  its  gods,  as  a  token  of  its  courage, 
statues  of  a  colossal  height,  and  all 
in  fighting  attitude ;  but  these  could 
not  defend  it  against  Rome,  and  the 
conqueror  who  razed  its  walls  left 
com  OF  ANcoNA.^  j;^  dcrisiou  the  images  of  its  warlike 

divinities.  Ancona,  founded  about  380  B.  c,  in  Picenum,  by 
Syracusans  who  fled  from  the  tyranny  of  Di'onysius  the  Elder, 
was  also  Dorian. 

The  most  flourishing  of  the  Achaean  colonies  was  at  first 
Sybaris,  which  had  subdued  the  indigenous  population  of  the 
coTmtries  of  wine  and  oxen  {Oenotria  and  Italy).  At  the  end  of 
a  century,  about  620  B.  c,  it  possessed  a  territory  covered  by  twenty- 
five  towns,  and  could  arm  three  hundred  thousand  fighting  men. 
But  a  century  later,  in  510,  it  was  taken  and  destroyed  by  the 
Crotoniates.  All  Ionia,  which  traded  with  it,  lamented  its  down- 
fall, and  the  Milesians  went  into  mourning.  Its  land  used  to  yield 
a    hundredfold :  ^  it    is    now    only  a     deserted    and    marshy    shore. 

'  Livv,  xxvii.  16.  Strabo  says  (VI.  iii.  4)  :  "(TX^'<^av  Ss  noTf  o'l  Tapavrivoi  Ka6'  vTrep/SoXijv. 
The  wealth  of  Tarentum  arose  from  its  fisheries,  from  its  manufacture  [and  dyeing]  of  the 
fine  wool  of  the  country,  and  from  its  harbor,  which  was  the  best  on  the  south  coast. 

^  Ancona  in  Greek  signifies  elhoic,  hence  the  half-ljent  arm  on  the  reverse.  The  ancients 
often  rendered  a  name  by  a  figure  which  gave  the  meaning  of  it;  thus  certain  coins  of 
Sicily,  the  island  with  three  promontories,  have  three  legs  pointed  in  different  directions 
and  united  ftt  the  top.     The  modern  Sicilians  have  kept  this  emblem,  the  friquelra. 

2  Varro,   de  Re  rust.  i.  44.     [The  site   of  the  town  is  not  yet  accurately  known,  but 


GKEEKS   AXD   GAULS. 


Ill 


COIN   OF    LAUS. 


On    the    western    coast    of    LTicania,    Laus,    whicli    the    Lncanians 

destroyed  after  a  great  victory    over  the  confederate    Greeks,   and 

Posidonia,    whose    imposing   ruins '   have  rendered  famous  tlie    now 

deserted     town     of    Paestum,    Avere     colonies     of     Sybaris.       Other 

Achaeans,    invited   1)y    them,    had    settled    at    Metapontum,    which 

owed    great    wealth    to    its    agriculture    and    to    its    liarbor,    now 

converted  into   a   lagoon.^     Crotona    had    as   rapid  a  prosperity    as 

Sybaris,  its  rival,  Init  one  which  lasted 

longer.     Its  walls,  double  as  great  in 

extent    (100    stadia)    indicate   a   more 

numerous    popidation,    whose    renown 

for    pugilistic     combats    [for    cookery 

and    for    medicine]    would    also    lead 

us   to   consider   the    population   more    energetic.      Milo    of   Crotona 

is  a   well-known   name.      The   tyrants   of   Syracuse    took   it   three 

times,    and    it   had   lost   all    importance 

when  the   Romans    attacked   it.     Locri, 

of  Aeolian  origin,  never  attained  to  so 

much   power.     Its    downfall,    begun    Ijy 

Dionysius   the  Younger,  was  completed 

by  Pyrrhus  and  Hannibal. 

The  loniaus  had  only  two  towns  in  ]\Iagna  Graecia :  Elea, 
famous  for  its  school  of  philosophy,  and  Thurii,  the  principal 
founders  of  whicli  were  the  Atheni- 
ans. Hostile  to  the  Lucanians  and 
to  Tarentum,  Thurii,  like  its  metrop- 
olis, entered  early  into  the  alliance 
of  Rome. 

It    is    remarkable    that    all    these 
towns  had  a  rapid  growth,  and  that  a  few  years  sufficed  for  them 
to  become  states,  reckoning  the  number  of  their  fightmg  men  by 

is  somewhere  under  the  C'rathis,  which  was  turned  over  it.  The  plain  is  really  rich  in 
grass  and  in  cattle,  but  much  visited  by  malaria.  Excavations,  accompanied  by  a  change 
in  the  river's  course,  would  proljablv  bring  to  light  the  most  interesting  remains  yet  found 
in  Italy.  —  Ed.'] 

^  The  two  temples  and  stoa  of  Paestum. 

^  Now  Lago  di  Santa  Pelagina.  When  the  water  is  low,  remains  of  ancient  construo- 
tions  are  seen  there  ;   it  was  destroyed  by  the  bands  of  Spartacus. 

'  Head  of  Juno  Lacinia ;  on  the  reverse,  Hercules  sitting. 

*  Helmeted  Minerva;  lion  couchant. 


COIN    OF    CROTOXA.' 


COIN    OF    ELEA.* 


112  INTEODUCTION. 

the  liimdred  thousand.  It  was  not  only  the  favorable  climate  of 
Magna  Graecia,  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  which,  in  the  valleys  and 
plains  of  the  two  Calabrias,  excelled  that  of  Sicily,-'  nor  even  the 
wisdom  of  their  legislators,  Charondas,  Zalencus,  Parmenides,  and 
Pythagoras,  that  effected  this  marvel,  but  the  clear-sighted  policy 
Avhich  admitted  all  strangers  into  the  city,^  and  for  some  centu- 
ries converted  the  Pelasgian  populations  of  the  south  of  Italy  into 
a  great  Greek  nation.  Doubtless  distinctions  were  established ; 
and  there  were  proljaljly  in  the  capitals  plebeians  and  nobles,  in 
the  country  serfs  of  the  soil,  and  in  the  conquered  towns  sulajects ; 
but  these  differences  prevented  neither  union  nor  strength.  It 
was  by  this  means,  too,  by  this  assimilation  of  conquered  and 
conquerors,  that  Rome  increased.  But  Rome  preserved  its  disci- 
pline for  a  long  time,  whereas  the  towns  of  Magna  Graecia,  under- 
mined within  by  intestine  divisions  and  menaced  without  by 
Carthage  and  Syracuse,  by  the  tyrants  of  Sicily  and  the  King  of 
Epirus,  incessantly  harassed  l:)y  the  Italian  Gauls  and  the  Samnites, 
especially  Ijy  the  Lucanians,  were,  moreover,  enfeebled  by  rivalries 
which  jjrepared  for  the  Romans  an  easy  conquest. 

If  Umbria  owes  its  name  to  a  Gallic  trilje,  our  fathers  must 
have  crossed  the  Aljjs  the  first  time  in  a  large  body  at  a  very 
early  epoch.^      The  invasion  of  the  sixth  century  is  more  certain. 

^  Dolomicu,  Dissciiation  sur  le  tremhlcment  dc  terre  tie  1783.  [In  natural  beauty  Calabria 
far  surjiassc's  the  greater  part  of  Sicily.  —  Ed."] 

2  Polvbius,  ii.  39  ;  Dioil.,  xii.  9.  Sybaris  ruled  four  nations  and  twenty-five  towns  (Strab., 
VI.  i.  13).  There  is  doubtless  a  great  exaggeration  in  the  figure  of  300,000  fighting  men;  but 
the  number  of  inhabitants  must  have  been  much  larger  than  that  of  the  towns  of  Greece 
proper.  At  certain  of  its  feasts,  Sybaris  assembled  as  many  as  5,000  cavalry,  four  times 
more  than  Athens  ever  had  (Athen.,  xii.  17  and  18;  Diod.,  fragm.  of  bk.  viii.;  Scymn.,  340). 
It  was  the  same  at  Crotona.  The  Pelasgians  of  Lucania  and  Bruttium  sliowed  the  same 
readiness  as  those  of  Greece  in  allowing  themselves  to  be  aVtsorbed  by  the  Hellenes  and  in 
adopting  their  language  and  manners,  and  for  tlie  same  reasons,  —  identity  of  origin,  or  at  least 
near  relationship.  This  influence  of  the  Hellenes  was  so  strong,  that  notwithstanding  the  later 
Roman  colonies,  Calabria,  like  Sicily,  remained  for  a  long  time  a  Greek  country.  It  was  only 
at  the  commencement  of  the  fourteenth  century  that  the  Greek  language  [rc-introduced  in  the 
eleventh]  began  to  be  lost  there.  As  to  the  prosperity  of  these  towns,  it  is  connected,  more 
than  has  been  shown,  with  that  of  the  Greek  colonies  in  general.  Masters  of  all  the  shores 
of  the  great  basin  of  the  JMediterranean,  the  Greeks  had  in  their  hands  the  commerce  of  the 
three  worlds.  Continued  intercourse  united  their  towns,  and  every  point  of  this  immense 
circle  profited  from  the  advantages  of  all  the  others.  The  prosperity  of  Tarentum,  Sybaris, 
Crotona,  and  Syracuse,  corresponded  with  that  of  Phocaea,  Smyrna,  Miletus,  and  Cyrene. 

^  Geographical  names,  dolmens,  etc.,  reveal  the  presence,  in  the  Valley  of  the  Danube, 
from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  Schwarzwald,  of  numerous  Gallic  populations  which  may  have 
come  thence  directly  into  Italy.     In  that  case  the  Gauls  of  the  banks  of  the  Loire  would  only 


me^Tf^ 


o 


|4 

o 

o 


GEEEKS   AND   GAULS. 


113 


.Sala 


Kliuotiaii. 


Euijaiit'au. 


Etnisiau. 


It  is  said  that  the  Gallic  tribes  of  the  northwest,  driven  back  on 
the  Cevennes  and  the 
Alps  by  invaders  from 
beyond  the  Rhine,  ac- 
cumulated there,  and, 
like  waves  long  pent 
up,  overflowed  to  the 
number  of  three  hun- 
dred thousand  across 
the  Alps  into  the  Val- 
ley of  the  Po.  On  the 
banks  of  the  Ticino, 
the  Biturigan  Bellove- 
sus  overwhelmed  an 
Etruscan  army  and 
established  his  people, 
the  Insubrians,  be- 
tween this  river,  the 
Po.  and  the  Adda.^ 

Bellovesus  had 
shown  the  way  ; 
others  followed  it.  In 
the  space  of  sixty-six 
years,  the  Cenomani, 
under  a  chief  sur- 
uamed  the  whirlwind 
{EUtovius),  Ligurians, 
Boians,  Lingones,  An- 
amans  and  Senones,^ 
drove  the  Etruscans 
from  the  banks  of 
the       Po       and       the 

have  been  the  western  group 
of  this  great  nation.  Cf.  Re- 
vue archeolofj.  for  January, 
1881,  p.  50. 

'  Livy,  V.  34,  35. 

^  With  the  Senones,  Strabo  unites  (V.  i.  G)  the  Gesates,  "  Tlie  two  nations,"  says  he, 
"who  took  Rome." 


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1 

ALPHABETS    OF    NORTHERN    IT.\LY. 


114  INTEODUCTION. 

Umbrians  from  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic  as  far  as  the  River 
Esino  (Aesis).  Some  remains  of  the  Etrascan  and  Umbrian  powers 
existed,  however,  in  the  midst  of  the  Gallic  populations,  and  formed 
small  states  which  were  free,  but  triljutary  and  always  exposed, 
from  the  fickleness  of  these  barbarians,  to  sudden  attacks.  Thus 
Melpum  was  surprised  by  treacliery,  and  destroyed  on  the  same 
day,  it  is  said,  as  the  Romans  entered  Veii.' 

As  conquerors,  the  Gauls  did  not  go  beyond  the  linrits  where 
the  invasions  of  the  Senones  had  stopped.  But  this  vigorous  race, 
these  men  eager  for  tunuilt,  plunder,  and  battle,  long  troubled  the 
peninsula  as  they  did  all  the  ancient  world,  until  the  legions  were 
able  to  reach  them  in  the  middle  of  their  forests  and  to  fix  them 
to  the  soil.  They  inhabited  unwalled  villages,  says  Polybius,  slept 
on  grass  or  straw,  and  had  no  knowledge  except  of  lighting  and 
a  little  husbandry.  Living  chiefly  on  meat,  they  only  valued 
flocks  and  gold,  —  ready  wealth  whiih  does  not  impede  the  warrior, 
and  whicli  he  carries  everywhere  along  with  him.  Under  their 
ride  Cisalpine  Gaul  returned  to  the  barl^arism  from  which  the 
Etruscans  had  saved  it ;  the  forests  and  marshes  spread ;  the  passes 
of  the  Alps  especially  remained  open,  and  new  bands  continually 
descended  from  them,  which  claimed  their  share  of  the  country 
of  the  tvine.  Their  high  statui-e,  their  savage  shouts,  their  pas- 
sionate and  menacing  gestures,  and  that  parade  of  courage  Avhich, 
on  days  of  battle,  made  them  strip  off  all  their  clothing  in  order 
to  fight  naked,  frightened  the  Italians  so  much  that  at  their 
approach  the  whole  population  took  up  arms.  When  the  young 
and  fortunate  Alexander  threatened  them,  the  Gauls  of  the  Danube 
replied  that  they  feared  nothing  but  that  the  sky  should  fall ;  and 
the  first  Roman  army  that  saw  those  of  Italy  fled  terrified.  Yet 
Rome  was  compelled  to  meet  them  everywhere,  at  Ca,rthage,  in 
Asia,  with  Hannibal,  at  her  gates  even,  and  up  to  the  foot  of 
the  Capitol ! 

Italy  in  this  early  age  has  only  a  twilight  of  history,  the 
uncertain  rays  of  which  with  difficulty  pierce  the  darkness  in 
which  the  commencement  of  the  nations  is  concealed.  However, 
by  this  still  doubtful  light  we  can  recognize  some  facts  impor- 
tant to  general  history,  and  particularly  to  that  of  Rome. 

I  riiny,  jV((/.  ///.-/.  iii.  17  (21). 


GREEKS  AND   GAULS.  115 

Tlius  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  Italiotes  bclon<j;o(l  to  the  Aryan 
lace.  They  were  more  connected  with  the  ilelleuic  ti'ibes  than 
the  Germans  are  with  the  Celts  and  Slavs,  which  are  also  de- 
tached branches  of  this  powerful  stem.  But  if  this  relationship 
to  the  Greeks  disposed  them  to  yield  to  the  mlluence  of  Hellenic 
civilization,  they  borrowed  from  their  brothers  of  Hellas  neither 
tlieir  language,  nor  their  worship,  nor  their  institutions  of  early 
days. 

In  what  concerns  Rome  we  note  the  following  points  :  — 

The  preponderance,  in  the  eighth  century,  on  both  banks  of 
the  Tiber,  of  the  Sabines  and  Etruscans,  and  consequently  their 
influence  on  the  institutions  and  manners  of  the  nation  which 
arose  beside  them  and  which  increased  at  their  expense. 

The  feebleness  of  the  Latins,  which  favored  the  beginnings 
of  the  Eternal  City. 

The  power,  but  insubordinate  spirit,  of  the  Sabellians. 

The  political  divisions  of  the  Italian  nations,  sustained  by  the 
very  division  of  the  soil  and  the  diversity  of  their  origin. 

Let  us  imagine  in  the  midst  of  these  tribes,  rendered  strangers 
to  one  another  bv  lono:  isolation,  a  small  nation  which  made  a 
necessity  of  war,  a  daily  habit  of  the  exercise  of  arms,  a  virtue 
of  military  discipline ;  and  we  shall  understand  that  this  nation, 
formed  for  conquest,  must  triumph  over  all  these  tril^es,  often 
related  to  it  ui  origin,  which,  when  attacked  in  succession,  })er- 
ceive  too  late  that  the  dovrafall  of  each  was  the  threat  and  the 
announcement  of  the  cominsj-  downfall  of  the  next. 


116  INTKODUCTIUK 


VI. 

POLITICAL   ORGANIZATIOIT   OF  THE  ANCIENT   NATIONS   OP  ITALY. 

IN  Italy,  as  in  the  rest  of  Europe,  the  most  ancient  civiliza- 
tion seems  to  retain  something  of  the  theocratic  forms  of  Asia, 
whence  it  has  come,  —  with  this  difference,  however,  that  an  order 
of  priests  is  not  found  distinct  from  the  rest  of  the  citizens. 
The  same  men  were  heads  of  the  people  and  ministers  of  the 
gods ;  so  that  according  to  the  more  human  and  more  political 
spirit  of  the  West,  the  relations  were  the  reverse  of  what  they 
had  been  in  the  East :  the  warrior  took  precedence  of  the 
priest ;  before  being  pontiff  or  augur,  the  noble  was  a  patrician  ; 
he  did  not  shut  himself  up  in  a  sanctuary,  but  lived  before  the 
public  gaze ;  he  did  not  remain  tied  to  vmchangeable  forms,  Init 
modified  them,  according  to  the  wants  of  the  state ;  religion,  in 
fact,  was  for  him  not  only  an  end,  but  a  means  and  an  instrument 
all  the  more  formidable,  because  it  was  employed  by  believers,  so 
that  statecraft  could  ))ring  fanaticism  to  its  aid. 

Among  the  Etruscans  the  two  characters  of  the  priest  and 
warrior  appear  in  equilibrium.  Their  lucumos,  alone  instructed 
in  the  augur's  science,  alone  eligible  by  hereditary  right  for 
public  functions,  guardians  of  the  mysteries  and  masters  of  every- 
thing divine  and  human,  form  a  military  theocracy  founded  on 
divine  right  and  the  antiquity  of  families.  Among  the  Oscan  and 
Sabellian  nations  the  balance  seems  disturbed,  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  warrior.  The  chief  is  the  man  revered  for  the  an- 
tiquity of  his  race  and  the  grandeur  of  his  house,  powerful  by 
the  extent  of  his  domains  and  the  number  of  his  relatives,  slaves, 
and  clients. 

Agricultural  and  shepherd  nations,  for  the  very  reason  that 
they  remain  in  contact  with  nature,  follow  it  closely  in  their  insti- 
tutions ;  for  them.  Jews  and  Araljs,  Celts  of  Scotland  and.  Ireland, 
or  natives  of  Latium  and  the  Sabine  country,  the  family  is  the 
first    element     of    society,   and    the    patriarchal    authority    of    the 


S- 


POLITICAL   OKGANIZATIOX.  117 

chief  who,  like  Abraham,  fights  and  sacrifices  in  turn,  is  the 
earliest  government.  At  Rome,  all  rights  came  from  the  family; 
the  heads  of  the  state  were  the  fathers,  patres  and  ^ja^/mV  ; 
property  was  the  j^atrimotiium ;  the  country,  the  common  property 
of  the  fathers,  res  patria.  Yet  the  right  of  primogeniture,  which 
is  found  among  so  many  nations,  was  unknown  on  the  banks  of 
the  Tiber.  With  the  family  are  connected  the  servants,  devoted 
for  life  and  death  to  him  who  nourishes  and  protects  them,  who 
leads  them  to  battle,  and  enriches  them  with  spoil,  like  the 
German  comites,  the  Aquitanian  soldurii,  the  memliers  of  the  Scotch 
clans,  —  like,  in  fact,  the  Italian  clients,  as  regards  their  patron. 
Patronage,  jsa^rocmmm,^  and  the  patriciate  ought  then  to  be  raised 
from  the  rank  of  a  particular  institution,  in  which  historians 
have  long  placed  them,  to  that  of  a  law  of  the  very  organization 
of  primitive  societies.  When  there  are  no  institutions,  it  is  very 
necessary  for  the  nascent  state  that  there  should  be,  between  the 
strong  and  the  feeble,  between  the  rich  and  the  poor,  an  early 
association,  —  an  association  with  varying  obligations,  granting 
liere  more,  there  less,  to  the  liberty  of  the  protected  and  to  the 
rights  of  the  protector.  At  Rome,  this  relation  was  called  client- 
ship  ;  in    the    Middle   Ages,    feudalism. 

Like  the  Etruscan  lucumos,  the  Latin  and  Sabine  patricians 
were  the  priests  of  their  families  and  clients ;  they  sacrificed  to 
the  domestic  Penates ;  they  fulfilled  the  public  ceremonies,  and  held 
the  magistracies,  —  in  a  word,  the}'  had  Ijoth  religious  and  political 
authority.  But  in  Latium,  religion,  because  it  was  more  popular, 
protected  their  privileges  less  than  in  Etruria.  So  the  great  men 
of  Rome  lost  no  time  in  borroAvins;  from  the  Etruscans  their 
augural  knowledge,  and  in  buying,  at  a  great  price,  the  Sibylline 
books,  in  order  to  place  by  the  side  of  the  popular  religion,  access- 
ible to  all,  a  state  religion,  reserved  for  themselves  alone. 

From    this    union    between    statecraft    and    religion,    from    this 

'  Dionysius  Hal.  (ii.  10,  9)  expressly  regards  Roman  patronage  as  an  old  Italian 
custom.  The  Javan  tiatias  and  Albanian  phars  rest  upon  the  same  principle ;  they  are 
families  composed  of  a  head,  relatives,  and  servants,  all  depending  upon  him.  Clientship 
existed  among  the  Sabines  (Livy,  ii.  16  ;  Dion.,  v.  40,  and  x.  14)  ;  among  the  Etruscans 
(Livy.  v.  1,  ix.  36,  and  xxiii.  3,  Dion.  Hal.,  ix.  5).  Cf.  Livy,  x.  5,  the  gens  Licinia  at 
Arrezo ;  at  Capua  (Li^-y,  xxiii.  2,  7)  ;  among  the  Samnites,  who  have  their  princlpes, 
primores,  nohiles,  equites,  milites  aurati  et  argentati. 


118  INTEODUCTION. 

double  character  of  the  Italian  aristocracy,  especially  in  Etruria, 
it  resulted  that  public  and  private  rights  were  closely  united 
with  religious  rights,  that  religion,  as  in  the  East,  was  the  bond 
of  every  city  and  the  principle  of  all  juiisprudence,  and  that 
ancient  legislations,  placed  under  divine  sanction,  gained  thereby  a 
higher  authority.  Moreover,  as  it  is  the  essence  of  all  religions 
to  love  mystery,  especially  of  those  that  are  in  possession  of  the 
heads  of  the  state,  the  civil  laws  were  wrapped  up  in  secret  and 
mysterious  religious  forms.^  "  Preserved  in  a  dumb  language, 
and  only  explaining  themselves  by  holy  ceremonies,  whereof  some 
rites  remained  in  the  acta  legitima,  they  were  long  obeyed  with 
scrupulous  piety."  ^  The  aristocracy,  who  were  its  sole  deposi- 
taries, found  therein  a  power  which  for  centuries  the  plebeians 
dared  not  dispute. 

The  greatest  strength  of  this  aristocracy  was,  however,  the 
possession  of  the  soil,  even  in  Etruria,  where  industry  and  com- 
merce had  created  the  movable  wealth  of  gold  Ijeside  the  incon- 
vertible wealth  of  land.  To  possess  land  was,  as  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  not  only  the  sign  of  power  but  power  itself ;  for  vast 
domains  furnished  a  whole  army  of  servants  and  dependants. 
Originally  these  domains  were  equal,^  and  the  aristocracies,  by 
their  number  and  the  equality  of  their  members,  were  truly 
democracies.  In  the  Graeco-Italian  states,  generally  formed  by  a 
few  migrations,  colonies,  or  Sacred  Springs,  society  existed  before 
property.  There  were  citizens  before  there  were  landowners ;  and 
when  a  town  rose,  the  soil  could  be  divided  geometrically:  each 
citizen  received  an  equal  share.  The  principle  of  feudal  and 
continental  Europe,  that  political  rights  flow  from  possession  of 
property,  was  inverted  by  antiquity.  At  Lacedaemon  it  was  as 
Dorians,  as  citizens  and  founders  of  the  state,  that  the  Spartans 
received  9,000  shares ;  and  no  new  right  sprang  from  that  conces- 
sion of  property.     Befoi'e  receiving  their  part  of  the  promised  land, 

'  The  passage  of  Festus  about  the  Etruscan  ritual  shows  clearly  the  sacerdotal  character 
of  Etruscan  legislation.  It  is  religion  rules  all  things ;  it  was  there  written,  said  he,  "  quo  ritu 
coudantur  urbes,  arae,  aedes  sacrentur;  qua  sanetitate  niuri,  quo  jure  portae,  ciuo  modo  ti-ibus, 
ceteracjue  ejusmodi  ad  bellum  ac  pacem  pertinentia." 

-  Vico,  ii.  283. 

8  As  at  Sparta :  the  9.000  shares  given  to  the  Spartans  were  inalienable.  [But  this  was 
probably  a  modern  theory,  devised  in  the  time  of  Agis  and  C'leomenes,  as  Grote  has  conclu- 
sively shown,  in  spite  of  the  arguuicufs  of  recent  Oerman  critics.  —  Eil.~\ 


K    ^ 


lliliiiiiiiliiiiiliiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit^^ 


POLITICAL   ORGANIZATION. 


119 


the  Hebrews  were  all  e(|iial,  all  members  of  God's  people ;  and 
after  tlie  division  they  remain  as  they  were  before.  In  Egypt, 
at  Cyrene.  in  all  the  Greek  colonies,  similar  divisions  took  place, 
without  implying  any  political  consequence.^ 

With  us  these  agrarian  laws  would  be  a  supremely  iniquitous 
measure,  because  property  now  represents  the  accumulated  fruits 
of  the  labor  of  many  generations ;  in  ancient  times  they  only 
resulted  in  the  increase  of  the  number  of  citizens,  in  annulling 
unju.st  usurpations,  and  leading  the  state  back 
to  primitive  equality.  They  were  neverthe- 
less violently  rejected  wherever  there  arose, 
as  at  Rome  and  in  Etruria,  a  second  people, 
poor  and  oppressed,  which  might  have  become 
too  formidable  if  to  the  power  of  numbers 
they  had  joined  that  of  fortune.  To  avoid 
these  reforms  even  Religion  was  called  to  the 
aid  of  civil  law,  and  made  to  imprint  on 
landed  property  a  sacred  character.  She  it 
was  who  divided  the  land,  who  by  prayers, 
libations,  and  sacrifices  marked  the  boundaries 
that  no  one  could  remove  without  incurring 
the  divine  wrath.^  Numa  .  .  .  statult  eum  qui 
terminum  exarasset,  et  ipsum  et  boves  sacros  esse. 
This  religion  of  property  had  its  god,  Terminus, 
the  immovable  guardian  of  landmarks,  who,  in 
tradition,  will  not  fall  back  even  before  the 
Master  of  heaven  and  earth.  '•  Ill-luck,"  said 
an  old  prophecy,  "  to  him  who  displaces  Ter- 
minus, in  order  to  increase  his  domain !  His 
land    shall    be    beaten    with    storms,   his   wheat 


THE  GOD  TERMINUS, 
AFTER  A  STATUE  IN 
THE  LOUVRE. 


'  Joshua  XX.;  Pint.,  Li/c. ;  Herotl.,  ii.  109;   Arist.,  Pol.  vii.  4. 

"  The  land  to  be  marked  out  was  for  the  ar/rimenxi»;  who  was  both  priest  and  augur,  an 
enclosure  wherein  a  rehgious  act  was  to  take  place.  Like  the  sanctuary  of  the  gods,  it  was  a 
templum,  wliose  limits  were  put  in  connection  with  the  divisions  which  the  augur  established  in 
aerial  space,  when  he  consulted  the  omens.  .\n  altar  was  raised  at  the  limit,  and  the 
entrails  of  the  victims  were  placed  under  the  boundary  stone,  which  by  this  consecration 
became  itself  a  god ;  and  the  property,  the  o,r/cr  auspirntu,^  ri'l  limitatiis,  could  not  be  usurjied. 
Cicero,  in  the  Second  I'lulippic  (§  40),  denies  that  any  one  had  the  right  to  lead  a  new  colony 
into  the  territory  of  an  ancient  one  not  yet  destroyed.  "  Negavi  in  earn  coloniam,  quae  esset 
auspicato  deducta,  dum  esset  incolumis,  coloniam  novam  deduci  posse." 


120  INTEODUCTIOK 

eaten  witli  mildew,  his  house  overthrown,  and  all  his  race  shall 
perish."  Never  has  landed  property  been  more  energetically  pro- 
tected, and  with  it  the  hereditary  power  of  riches.  Thus  it  was 
that  Roman  society  remained  deeply  aristocratic  to  its  last  day. 

This  consecration  of  property  was  especially  the  work  of  the 
Etruscans,  whose  conquests  and  influence  extended  the  use  of  it  into 
a  great  pai^t  of  the  peninsula ;  and  no  divinity,  says  Varro,  was 
more  honored  in  all  Italy  than  the  God  of  Limit's.^ 

On  this  double  basis  of  religion  and  property  rose  the  old 
aristocracy  of  Italy,  and  in  late  times  that  of  Rome.  Uniting  these 
two  elements  of  strength,  which  eacli  separately  confer  power,  what 
might  not  be  its  duration  and  ascendency  ?  As  long  indeed  as 
the  city  did  not  assume  the  proportions  of  an  empire,  no  families 
arose  possessing  power  by  hereditary  right.  The  magistrates 
were  almost  always  elected  annually,  like  the  lucumos  of  Etruria, 
the  Tneddix  tuticus  of  the  Campanians,^  and  the  praetor  or  dictator 
of  the  Latin  cities.  In  grave  circumstances  a  supreme  chief  was 
elected,  such  as  the  emhradur  (imperator)  of  the  Sabellians,  the  king 
whom  the  twelve  Etruscan  cities  named,  each  sending  him  a  lictor 
in  token  of  the  power  over  the  whole  of  the  nation^  which  was 
committed  to  him,  —  such,  in  short,  as  that  dictator  of  Tusculum, 
Egerius,  who  was  recognized  chief  of  the  Latin  confederation,  in 
order  to  undertake  the  dedication  of  the  connnon  temple  of  Aricia. 
In  the  heroic  age,  legend  tells  of  kings  in  Latium ;  V)ut  at  the  time 
of  the  foundation  of  Rome  there  were  none  left  save  m  the  little 
towns  of  the  Sabine  territory.*  Even  Alba  no  longer  had  aught 
but  dictators  ;  and  in  detestation  of  the  royal  name,  popular  stories 
were  already  rej)eated  about  the  cruelties  of  Mezentius  and  of  those 
tyrants  who,  sti-uck  Ijy  the  divine  anger,  had  been  buried  with 
their  j^alaces  at  the  bottom  of  Lake  Albano.  When  the  waters  fell, 
it  was  thought  that  these  guilty  dwellings  might  be  seen.^ 

On  a  hill,  on  the  borders  of  a  lake,  or  on  the  steep  banks  of  some 


'  Ovid,  Fast.  ii.  639-G84. 

^  Livy,  xxiv.  19;  Fcstus,  s.  v.  Tuticus. 

s  Livy,  i.  8. 

■*  At  a  later  epoch  there  were  still  kings  among  the  Daunians,  Peucetians,  Messapians, 
and  Lucanians.  (Strabo,  V.  and  VI.  passim;  Livy,  i.  17  ;  Paus.,  x.  13.)  But  they  were  per- 
haps only  simple  leaders  in  war,  like  the  Samnite  embradur. 

^  Verg.,  Aen.  viii.  7  and  4.S1  ;  Dionys.,  i.  71. 


I'OLITICAL   OKGANIZATIOK  121 

rivor,  but  always  in  a  position  ilifficiTlt  of  access.^  rose  the  capital 
of  each  state,  genei-ally  not  very  extensive,  and  fortified,  especially  in 
Etruria,  with  all  the  art  of  the  times.  Faesulae,  Rusellae,  Populonia, 
and  Cosa,  the  walls  of  which  may  still  be  seen,  were  only  three 
qnarters  of  a  league  round,  Volaterrae  a  league  and  a  half,  and  Veil, 
the  largest  of  all  the  Etruscan  cities,  less  than  two  and  a  half  leagues. 
The  Latin  cities  were  not  nearly  so  lai'ge ;  yet  they,  according  to  the 
Etruscan  ritual  followed  in  Latium,  preserved  a  free  space  between 
the  nearest  buildings  and  the  walls,  as  well  as  between  the  wall  and 
the  cultivated  fields.  This  was  the  pomerium,  the  sacred  bovmdary 
of  the  city,  within  which  dwelt  none  but  true  citizens,  —  that  is  to 
say,  heads  of  families,  the  fathers  or  patricians,  with  their  servants 
and  clients  (gentes  j^cii^^^ciac).  Plebeians  and  foreigners  remained 
outside  the  pomerium,  without  the  political  city. 

On  a  place  set  apart  in  the  midst  of  the  town  the  patricians 
assembled  in  arms,^  like  the  Germans  and  Gauls,  to  deliberate  on 
their  common  interest.  According  to  the  Etruscan  usage,^  they 
were  divided  into  tribes,  curies,  and  centuries,  the  number  of 
wliich  was  determined  by  a  sort  of  sacred  arithmetic.  The 
Eugubine  tables  show  that  this  division  took  place  in  Umbria 
likewise ;  but  the  Oscans  and  Sabellians,  freer  from  sacerdotal 
fetters  than  the  Etruscans,  do  not  appear  to  have  recognized 
that  mysterious  authority  of  number  which  plays  so  great  a  part 
in  Rome. 

In  states  suljjected  to  the  authority  of  a  powerful  aristocracy, 
there  is  often  found  side  by  side  with  the  docile  population 
another  population  in  revolt,  which  dwells  in  the  depths  of  the 
forests  and  lives  Ijy  pillage.  These  outlaws,  the  heroes  of  bar- 
liarous  times,  must  have  been  very  numerous  in  ancient  Italy, 
where,    moreover,    amid    so    many    rival    cities,    the    military    spirit 

'  Many  towns  of  modern  Italy  are  still  in  the  place  of  the  ancient  cities.  That  of 
C'apistrello  commands  the  Valley  of  the  Liris,  above  the  point  where  the  escaiie  channel  of  Lake 
Fncinus,  designed  by  Caesar  and  carried  out  by  Claudius,  ojiens. 

[This  peculiar  character  of  Italian  towns  is  still  yery  striking  to  the  traveller,  especially 
in  Southern  or  mountainous  Italy.  Owing  to  long  injustice  and  weakness  of  home  governments, 
and  the  raids  of  pirates  up  to  the  present  century,  isolated  homesteads  are  a  rare  exce])tion, 
and  the  population  live  in  villages  perched  like  eagles'  nests  on  the  top  of  the  rocks,  from 
which  they  come  down  to  till  the  slopes  and  valleys,  and  return  in  the  evening.  —  /?</.] 

^  (2"ir,  lance;  theni-e  r/uiritcs  and  curia,  the  place  where  the  quirites  assembled. 

'  Fest.,  s.  V.  Rituales ;  Verg.,  Aeix.  x.  'JOl. 


122  INTRODUCTION. 

sustained  by  continual  warfare  gave  rise  to  bands  of  mercenaries 
who  sold  their  services,  like  the  condottieri  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
or  made  war  on  their  own  account.^  We  shall  see  how  the 
Mamertines  fared  in  Sicily.  The  fortune  of  a  few  Tuscan  chiefs 
was  no  less  brilliant,^  and  the  Etruscan  condottiere  Mastarna,  the 
son-in-law  and  heir  of  Tartinin  the  Elder,  involuntarily  calls  to 
mind  that  other  condottiere,  Francesco  Sforza,  son-in-law  and 
successor  of  a  duke  of  Milan.  Romulus  himself,  proscribed  from 
the  time  of  his  birth,  rejected  by  the  patrician  caste  of  Alba, 
associated  in  tradition^  with  other  condottieri  similarly  repulsed 
by  the  Etruscan  aristocracy,  appears  to  have  been  nothing  but  one 
of  these  warrior  chiefs,  who  knew  how  to  choose  with  marvellous 
instinct  the  admirable  position  of  Rome,  and  hide  his  eyrie  between 
the  river,  the  wooded  hills,  and  the  marshy  plains  which  extend 
from  their  foot  to  the  Tiber. 


VII. 

EELIGIOUS   ORGANIZATION. 

EXCEPT  in  Etruria,  ancient  Italy  had  few  mysteries  or  profound 
dogmas.  Its  religion  was  simple ;  from  the  necessities  of 
life  and  from  the  labors  of  the  field*  it  derived  the  impressions 
of  admiration  or  affright  which  that  lovely  and  changeable  nature 
produced.  In  this  essentially  rural  religion  all  services  took  place 
in  the  open  air.  The  first-fruits  of  the  field  and  flock  were 
offered  to  the  god  on  the  altar  of  sacrifice  which  stood  before  the 
temple  ;  there  were  pious  songs,  prayers,  religious  dances,  garlands 
of  flowers  and  foliage  suspended  on  the  sacred  walls ;  and  when 
the  faithful  were  rich  enough  for  such  an  outlay,  a  few  grains  of 
incense  were  burned  on  the  altar,  and  perfumes  in  the  interior  of 

^  Livy  (iv.  55 ;  vi.  6)  speaks  of  the  bands  who  issued  from  the  country  of  the  Volscians 
without  leave  from  the  nation.al  council,  and  Dionys.  (^Ant.  Rom.  vii.  3)  of  the  mercenaries 
whom  the  Etruscans  took  into  their  pay. 

^  Tac,  Ann.  iv.  65. 

8  Dionys.,  A7it.  Rom.  iii.  37.  There  is  also  mention  of  Oppius  of  Tusculum,  and  of  a 
Laevus  Cispius  of  An.agnia,  in  the  time  of  Tullus  Ilostilius.     (Varro,  ap.  Fest.  Septimontium.) 

*  The  oldest  Roman  almanac  (^Corp.  Inscr.  Lat.,  vol.  i.  p.  375)  mentions  none  but  rural 
festivals. 


RELIGIOUS   ORGANIZATION. 


123 


One     of     the 
Ct'iitral    Italy   is 

iu.stance,    Vesta, 


the  .sanctuary,  where  tlie  actual  presence  of  the  god  filled  the  soul 
with  pious  awe. 

features  which  distinguished  these  creeds  of 
the  moral  superiority  of  their  gods,  —  as,  for 
the  immaculate  virgin,  who  protects  both  the 
j)rivate  and  pul)lic  hearth  {focus  jmblicus) ;  ^  the  Penates,  the  pro- 
tectors of  luunan  life  and  of 
the  city  ;  Jupiter,  arbiter  of  the 
physical  and  moral  world,  the 
sustaining  father  and  supreme  pre- 
server ;  the  gods  Terminus  and 
Fidelity,  who  pmiisli  fraud  and 
violence  ;  the  Bona  Dea,  who  fer- 
tilized the  earth  and  rendered 
unions  fruitful,  though  she  her- 
self ever  remained  a  virgin  ;  ^  and 
that  touching  worship  of  the 
Manes,  dii  manes,  which,  re- 
storing life  to  those  who  had 
been  loved,  showed  ancestors 
watching  beyond  the  tomb  over 
those  whom  they  had  left  among 
the   living.       Three   times    every 

year  the  Manes  left  the  infernal  regions,  and  the  son  who  had 
imitated  the  virtues  of  his  fathers  could  see  their  revered 
shades. 

The  gods  of  Greece  are  so  near  to  man,  that  they  have 
all  his  weaknesses ;  those  of  the  East  are  so  far  from  him,  that 
they  do  not  really  enter  into  his  life  at  all,  notwithstanding 
their  numerous   incarnations.     The    Italian    gods,   the  guardians  of 

^  Vesta  is  the  Agni  of  the  Veda.  The  Pelasgians  had  brought  the  worship  of  tliis  divinity 
of  fire  from  Asia.  There  were  A^estals  at  Lavinium  (Serv.  in  Aen.  iii.  21),  at  Tibur  (Tivoli), 
and  elsewhere.  The  temple  represented  on  page  1 24,  was  dedicated,  according  to  some,  to  Vesta, 
according  to  others,  to  the  Sibyl  Alhunea,  "  Domus  Albuneae  resonautis ''  (Hor.,  Odes,  I.  vii. 
12)  ;  others  again  see  in  it  the  temple  of  Hercules  :  it  is  ailliuc  suh  Jndice.  The  main  jjoint  is 
that  the  ruin  is  lovely.  To  the  right  of  the  round  temple  there  is  another  scjuare  one  about 
which  the  same  uncertainty  exists. 

^  It  is  Varro  who  says  so,  in  Macrobius,  Salurn.  I.  xii.  27.  .  .  "  nee  virum  uncpiam  viderit 
vel  a  viro  visa  sit : "  but  others  related  her  adventures,  and  her  festivals,  at  least  in  the  time  of 
Caesar,  were  considered  as  licentious,  though  all  men  were  rigidly  excluded  from  them. 

^  After  a  miniature  from  the  Vatican  Vcrfril. 


ENTRANCE    OK    A    SHRINE.' 


124 


INTEODUCTION. 


OPS,   on  WEALTH.' 


property,  conjugal  fidelity,  and  justice,  the  protectors  of  agri- 
culture, the  dispensers  of  all  earthly  good,  preside  over  the 
actions  of  men  without  sharing  their  passions,  but  also  without 
raising  their  mind  above  selfish  interests.  Art 
and  science  feel  the  loss,  morality  gams.-^  We 
shall  not  find  the  Roman  Olympus  either  teeming 
witli  life,  light,  and  beauty,  like  that  of  Greece, 
or  profound,  mysterious,  and  terrible,  like  those 
of  Egypt  and  India.  We  shall  find  its  gods 
inglorious  and  practical,^  whom  during  long  years, 
selfish  worshippers  dared  only  address  with  just  prayers.  Their 
service  will  be  a  means  of  preservation  for  a  society  devoid  of 
enthusiasm,  not    an    element   of  progress. 

These  modest  divinities  could  not  display  the  terrible  require- 
ments that  are  found  in  larger  theogonies.  They 
very  rarely  demanded  human  l^lood  on  their 
altars ;  *  but  they  accepted  a  voluntary  sacrifice, 
the  redemption  of  the  people  by  the  devotion 
of  a  victim,  —  a  Curtius,  who  closes  the  gulf  in 
the  heart  of  the  city  by  leaping  into  it,  ^  and 
GOOD  SUCCESS.*  a  Dccius,  who  by  liis  death  changes  defeat  into 
victory. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  Italian  gods  is  their  infinite 
multitride.  Every  town  has  its  tutelar  divinity.  At  Narnia  it  is 
Visidianus,  at  Ocriculum  Valentia,  at  Casinum  Delventius,  at 
Minturnae  Marica,  among  the  Frentani  Palina,  at  Satricum  Matuta 


1  Saint  Ausustine  (<le  Civ.  Dei,  vii.  4)  remarks  that  Janus  was  the  hero  of  no  questionable 
adventure.  Ovid,  however,  has  compromised  him  somewhat  {Fust.  Vi.  119,  seq.);  but  in  the 
time  of  Ovid  the  sense  of  the  ancient  rites  was  lost. 

-  She  holds  some  ears  of  corn.     Gold  coin  of  Pertinax,  struck  at  the  close  of  192  a.d. 

s  Sator,  seed  :  Ops,  work  in  the  fields  ;  Flora,  flower ;  Juventas,  youth ;  Fides,  faith  ;  Con- 
cordia, concord ;  Fors,  fortime ;  Bonus  Evenlus,  good  success.  [The  reader  will  notice  that 
among  Greek  authors  Xenophon  alone,  following  the  homely  side  of  the  Socratic  religion, 
exhibits  this  selfish  and  vulgar  piety.      Cf.  my  Social  Life  in  Greece,  p.  370. —  Ed.'] 

*  See  p.age  139,  note  1. 

5  This  gulf  was  but  ill  closed  by  Curtius ;  at  least  as  far  as  we  are  concerned ; 
for  in  modern  times  alone  it  has  re-opened  three  times,  in  1702,  1715,  and  1818  a.d. 
(Wey,  Rome,  p.  36.) 

*  Success  (Bonus  Eventus)  standing,  holding  a  bowl  and  ears  of  corn  ;  at  his  feet  an  altar 
burning.  Bronze  coin  of  Antoninus,  struck  by  order  of  the  Senate  (S.  C.)  during  his  second 
consulship  (Cos.  II.)  in  139  A.  D. 


TEMPLE    OF    VESTA,    OF   THE   SYBIL,    OB    OF    HERCULES,    AT    TIVOLI. 


EELIGIOUS  ORGANIZATION. 


125 


CONCOUD.^ 


Mater;    in  the  Sabine    country   Nerio,   who    was   identified   by   the 

(jens  Claudia  with  the  Roman  Belluna,  the  wife  or  sister  of  Mars.' 

To  these   must  be  added   the  numerous    Semones   or   Indigetes,  the 

nymphs,  heroes,  and  deified  virtues :  Concordia,  Flora, 

Pomona,  Juventas,  Pollentia,  Rumina,  Meua,  Numeria, 

and    the  swarm    of    local    di\inities    which    Tertullian 

calls  decuriones  deos,  and  the  gods  of  the  lower  world, 

Larvae  and  Lemures,  and  those  of  the  indigU amenta, 

those    books    which    were    both   collections  of   prayers 

Avhereof    the    priests    kept    the    secret,    and    lists   of    divine    beings 

whom  Tertullian  compares   to  the  angels  of  the  Bible ;    one  might 

add  that    they  call  to    mind   the    saints    of   tlie    popular  beliefs    of 

Roman  Catholic  countries. 

Not  only  each  town,  but  each  family,  each  man,  paid  honor  to 
special  gods  and  to  genii  who  protected  his  life  and  goods  (Lares, 
Penates) :  there  were  gods  for  every  act  of 
man's  life,  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.^  Thus 
at  the  close  of  the  Republic  Varro  could  count 
as  many  as  thirty  thousand  gods.  With  nations 
in  their  infancy,  imperfect  language  supplies,  by 
the  variety  of  particular  names,  the  absence 
of  the  general  terms  which  represent  the  unity 
of  the  species.  The  Italians  possessed  so  many 
deities  only  because  their  minds  were  incapable 
of  rising  to  the  conception  of  one  only  God,  —  a  defect  which  lasted 
a  long  time  with  them,  and  which,  with  others,  lasts  even  tiJl 
now. 

This  divine  democracy  necessarily    escaped   from  the    control    of 
the  greater  gods  and  thek  priests.     This  is  the  reason  why  rehgious 


YOUTH.* 


'  Nerio  appears  to  have  denoted  strength;  the  inscription  is  known  Virluti  BeUonae 
(Orelli,  4,983). 

^  Concord  {Concordia'),  seated,  leaning  witli  her  elbow  on  a  horn  of  plenty,  and  holding 
a  patera.  Gold  coin  of  the  Emperor  AeUus  Hadrianus,  struck  in  the  second  year  of  liis 
tribunitian  power,  and  during  his  second  consulsliip,  consequently  in  the  year  118  A.  D. 

*  See  in  .Saint  Augustine  (rfe  Civ.  Dei,  vi.  9)  the  manifold  and  very  humble  employ- 
ments of  these  gods,  after  Varro,  who  himself  had  doubtless  described  them  in  the  order 
of  "  indigitamenta,  a  conceptione  .  .  .  usque  ad  mortem  .  .  .  et  dei  qui  pertinent  ad  ea  quae 
sint  hominis,  sieuti  est  victus  atque  vestitus,"  etc. 

*  Youth  (.Juventas)  standing  near  an  altar,  in  the  form  of  a  candelabrum,  into  which 
she  throws  a  grain  of  iucense,  and  holding  a  patera  in  her  left  hand. 


126 


INTRODUCTION. 


TWO   WOMEN   BURNINO    INCENSE  AND    PERFUMES    UPON    TWO 
POKTABLE    ALTAUS    BEFORE   AN    IMAGE   OF    MARS.^ 


toleration  was  one  of  the  necessities  of  Roman  government ;  and 
if  the  patricians  had  not  held  the  secret  of  the  augur's  science,  of 
the  symbolic  fornnilae  and    ceremonies,  they  would  not   have   been 

able  to  add  the 
ascendency  of  re- 
ligion to  that  of 
bu'tli  and  fortune. 
Some  gods  had 
more  numerous 
worshippers  than 
others,  such  as 
Jupiter,  god  of  air 
and  light ;  Janus, 
the  Sun,  who 
opened  and  closed 
the  heavens  and  the 
year ;  Saturn,  the 
protector  of  rustic 
labor,  whose  hollow  statue  was  filled  with  the  oil  of  the  olives 
he  had  caused  to  grow;  Mars,  or  Maspiter,  the  symbol  of  manly 
strength,  also  called  Mavors,  the  god  who  slays ;  Bellona,  the 
terr'ljle  sister  of  the  god  of  war ;  Juno  Rcfjiiia,  queen  of  heaven, 
and  also  the  helpful,  Sospita,  in  whom  woman  at  all  moments  of 
her  life  found  aid,  but  who  favored  only  chaste  love  and  invio- 
late unions. 

The  worship  of  these  di\-inities  was  often  the  only  bond  which 
attached  cities  of  the  same  origin  to  one  another.  Thus  the 
Etruscans  assemliled  at  the  temple  of  Voltumna,  the  Latins  at  the 
sacred  wood  of  the  goddess  Ferentina,  at  the  temple  of  Jupiter' 
Latialis  on  the  iUban  Mount,  and  in  those  of  Venus,  at  Lavinium 
and  Laurentum ;  ^  the  Aequi  Rutuli  and  Volsci  at  the  temple  of 
Diana  at  Aricia.  Similar  gatherings  took  place  among  the  Salaines, 
Samnites,    Lucanians,    Ligurians,    etc.     They    were    really   Amphic- 

1  Taken  from  JIarini,  GU  Aid  e  monum.  de'  fraleUi  Arrali,  afteV  a  painting  found  at 
Rome,  which  Winckehnanu  has  also  reproduced  in  his  Mon.  ine'dits,  pi.   177. 

-  The  worship  of  Venus  at  Lavinium  and  I^aurentiun  only  dates  from  the  epoch  at  which 
the  legend  of  Aeneas  took  form.  There  was  no  goddess  hearing  the  name  of  Venus  at  Rome 
in  the  time  of  the  kings.  (Varro,  in  Atii/urum  lihris,  fragm.  of  book  vi. ;  Macrob.,  Saturn. 
I.  .\ii.  8-15.) 


EELIGIOUS    OEGANIZATION. 


127 


tyonies,   over    which     rehgion    presided,    and    wliicli     the    Romans 
abohslied     wlicn     they     them- 
selves   liad    made    use    of    the 
Latin    feriae    to    insure     tlieir 
supremacy  m  Latium. 

In  religion,  as  in  politics, 
the  Etruscans  were  originally 
distinct  from  the  rest  of  the 
Italiaa  nations,  from  whom 
they  afterward  received  gods 
or  to  whom  they  gave  them. 
Tlieir  religious  doctrines,  a 
distant  echo  of  the  great 
iVsiatic  tlieogonies,  proclaimed 
the  existence  of  a  supreme 
being,  Tinia,  the  soul  of  the 
world,  who  had  for  counsellors 
the  dil  consentes,  —  impersona- 
tions of  the  forces  of  present 
Nature,  and  destmed  to  perish 
with  her ;  for  the  Scandina- 
vian and  Oriental  l^elief  in  the  destruction  and  renewal  of  the 
world    is    found    also    in    Etruria. 

These  (I'll  fonsentes 
could  luu'l  thunderbolts, 
but  not  more  than  one 
at  a  time.  Tinia  alone, 
who  was  identified  with 
Jupiter,  manifested  his 
will  by  three  consecutive 
bolts.  Thus  he  was  repre- 
sented holding;  a  lio;htnino' 
flash  with  three  points.  Beside  him  were  seated  Thalna,  or  Juno, 
and    Menafru,   or    Minerva,    his    divine    family.     Vejovis   was    the 


HEAD    OF    jri'ITF.R.l 


THUNDF.I'.IiOLT    WITH    12 
FOURS. 


THUNDERBOLT    WITH    8 
FORKS. ^ 


'  The  famous  bust  found  at  Otriooli,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  fuie.st  liead  of  Jupiter 
that  anti<juity  has  left  us  (AA'inckelmaun,  History  of  Art,  \\.  ;U  .vcy.) 

-  Large  bronze  medals  of  Antoninus,  representing  one  a  thunderbolt,  of  six  or  twelve 
(lashes,  the  other  of  four  or  eiglit,  with  the  words :  To  divine  ProfiiU-ncf.  [JMany  of  these 
bronzes  are  close  imitations  manufactured  in  North  Italy  in  the  last  century. —  Ed.'] 


128 


INTEODUCTION. 


baleful  Sun ;  Summanus,  god  of  niglit  and  nocturnal  thunders ; 
Sethlaus,  or  Vulcan,  the  great  smith ;  Nortia,  fate  or  fortune, 
etc.  By  an  old  contract,  Nortia  lent  the  inner  walls  of  her 
temple  for  the  reception  of  the  sacred  nail  which  marked  the 
changeless  order  of  time  and  the  regular  return 
of  the  years.  Higher  yet,  hidden  in  the  un- 
fathomal)le  depths  of  heaven,  mysterious  deities 
whose  names  were  never  uttered,  the  dii  involuti 
(or  veiled)  played  the  part  of  the  destiny  to  which 
even  the  gods  were  suliject ;  they  helped  to 
explain  the  inexplicable  mystery  of  life. 

Man  has  in  all  ages  been  desirous  of  passing 
in  thought  over  the  threshold  of  death,  and  of 
looking  into  the  great  unknown  beyond.  The 
more  uncertain  and  confused  his  view,  the 
more  his  mind  peopled  it  with  vague  phantoms. 
Believing  that  death  separated  two  different  but 
not  al:)solutely  distinct  things,  the  body  which 
falls  lifeless,  and  the  other  self,  that  of  dreams, 
memories,  and  hopes,  which  still  exists,^  —  this  other  self  was 
looked  upon  as  formed  of  a  corporeal  substance.  With  the  ex- 
ception   of    Pythagoras   and    Plato,    all    the    philosophies,    all    the 


VULCAN    OF    ELBA.' 


1  It  is  thought  that  this  bronze  statuette,  found  in  the  Isle  of  Ilva  (Elba),  and  now  in  the 
Museum  of  Naples,  represents  the  god  who  must  have  been  the  protector  of  the  island  whence 
the  smiths  of  Etruria  got  their  iron. 

2  This  was  the  most  ancient  Ijelief  of  Egypt,  and  it  is  found  everywhere.  Although  a 
philosopher  had  dared  to  s.ay  at  the  time  of  the  construction  of  the  pyramids  :  '•  Of  those  who 
have  entered  the  coffin,  was  there  ever  any  who  came  out  again  ?  "  all  Egypt  thought  that 
there  existed  a  class  of  beings  who  were  neither  the  living  nor  the  dead.  The  dead  who  had 
been  good  during  their  lives  could  at  will  resume  terrestrial  existence  in  any  place  or  form 
which  suited  them.  (Chabas,  Les  Maximes  i/u  Scribe  Ani,  in  MH.  iSgypt.  p.  171.)  Tliis  in 
some  belief  was  popular  in  Greece,  where  many  Sarcophagi  and  funeral  urns  show  souls 
in  some  way  deified  (Ravaisson,  Mon.  de  Myrrhine)  ;  and  it  was  still  current  in  the  world  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  "  There  are  aerial  beings,"  says  Guicciardini  {Ricordi  politici,  ccxi), 
"  who  hold  converse  with  man  :  I  know  it  by  experience."  It  stiU  exists  in  China.  To  send  gold 
and  silver  to  the  manes  of  the  dead  in  the  other  world,  sacrificial  papers  are  burned,  which  are 
gilded  or  silvered,  and  there  are  prepared  at  certain  dates,  as  was  done  at  Rome,  repasts  in 
which  they  are  supposed  to  come  and  take  part.  But  to  prevent  them  from  taking  undue 
ailvantage  thereof,  petai-ds  are  fired,  to  send  them  back  to  the  place  whence  they  came.  For 
the  Esquimaux  the  whole  world  is  peopled  with  genii,  and  every  object  has  its  own.  In  our 
own  days  some  people  pretend  even  to  converse  with  the  spirits.  In  many  points  the  difference 
between  the  barbarian  and  the  civilized  man  is  not  so  great  as  is  thought.  [The  Christian 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body  implied  that  the  idea  of  a  pure  soul  existing  hereafter 
without  its  body  was  found  inconceivable.  —  Ed.'] 


KELIGIOUS   OllGANIZATION. 


129 


religions  of  classic  antiquity,  even  some  of  the  earliest  Fathers 
of  the  Church,  admitted  the  corpoi'eal  nature  of  the  soul. 
Impalpable  yet  material  shades,  the  genii  were  like  a  sacred 
humanity  which  peopled  the  invisible  imiverse.  One  of  them 
is  seen  in  an  Etruscan  paintmg  ^vllich  represents  two  old 
men  bewailing  the  dead,  whose  genius  hovers  above  them  under 
the   form  of   a   winged    woman. 

The   Lares   were   the   genii  of  the  family ;  the  Manes,  those  of 
the    lost     dead.      Genii     dwelt     in     woods,     foimtaius,     mysterious 


DEMONS    LEADING    AWAY    A    SOUL.' 

grottos ;  the  Romans  even  assign  them  to  everything  which  has 
a  sort  of  collective  life,  —  to  the  curia,  the  legion,  and  the  cohort. 
Every  man  and  every  thing  has  one  of  its  own. 

When  the  gods  issued  from  the  obscurity  which  enveloped 
them  in  ancient  days,  and  the  theogonies  settled  order  among  the 
divine  race,  the  genii  became  the  ministers  of  their  beneiicent  or 
terrible  will.  The  soml>re  imagination  of  the  Etruscans  delighted 
in  picturing,  on  vases  and  mural  paintings,  infernal  genii  armed 
with  serpents,  hideous  monsters,  a  grimacing  Charon,  dragging  the 
departed  to  the  lower  regions,  or,  armed  with  a  heavy  hammer, 
assisting  at  human  sacrifices,  to  put  an  end  to  the  victims  whom  the 


'  Conestabile,  Pilture  murale,  p!.  .xvii. 
9 


130  INTEODUCTION. 

knife  might  spare.^  Something  of  this  gloomy  spirit  appears  to 
have  survived  in  modern  Tuscany.  What  are  the  gorgeous  and 
hideous  paintings  of  the  Etruscans  beside  the  dreadful  pictures  of 
Dante    and   Buonarotti  ? 

One  essential  difference  between  this  religion  and  the  Asiatic 
cult,  was  the  science  of  augury.  The  unknown  fills  the  child  with 
fear,  and  attracts  the  man  who  still  dreads  it,  but  who  seeks  therein, 
according  to  the  age  of  the  world,  the  marvellous  or  the  scientific 
element.  Now  men  of  that  time  were  in  the  age  of  the  marvellous, 
and  they  demanded  from  physical  phenomena,  instead  of  a  revela- 
tion of  the  laws  of  nature,  the  knowledge  of  the  future. 

The  Assyrians  imagined  they  could  read  in  the  stars  those 
impenetrable  secrets  ;  the  Etruscans  sought  them  in  terrestrial 
phenomena,  in  the  flight  of  birds  and  the  entrails  of  victims.  The 
Greeks  and  Italians  practised  the  latter  two  kinds  of  divination ;. 
but  the  Etruscans  formulated  their  rules,  and  made  of  them  a, 
complicated  system.  They  were  especially  skilled  in  interpreting 
the  signs  furnished  by  thunder  and  lightning."  When  the  echoes 
of  the  Apennines  repeated  the  crashes  of  nocturnal  thunder,  it  was 
the  god  Summanus  speaking  ;  and  his  voice  must  be  under- 
stood. 

This  country,  then,  so  often  affrighted  by  earthquakes,  and 
where,  on  account  of  its  frequent  storms,  lightning  still  claims  sa 
many  victims, — this  land,  so  fertile  and  ever  so  menaced,  was  sure,, 
more  than  any  other,  to  nourish  religious  terror.  Men  had  faith 
in  an  occult  power  which  manifested  its  will  in  a  manner  outside 
the  natural  order  of  things,  and  the  art  of  explaining  prodigies,, 
of  gaining  the  favor  of  that  dreaded  power,  became  the  supreme 
science.^  Tlie  nobles  alone  knew  it,  and  in  their  hands  it  became 
a  weapon,  long  imfailing,  against  popular  innovations.  In  these  rit- 
uals everything  was  calculated ;  for  the  priest,  the  better  to  assure 
his  power,  was  unwilling  that  there  should  be  a  single  indifferent 
action;  and  a  shameful  superstition,  weighing  on  the  people,  tied  its. 


'  See  the  engraving  on  p.  C8.  Charon  and  his  chib  passed  on  to  Rome  ;  under  the  name 
of  Phito  he  put  an  end  with  his  hammer-strokes  to  the  wounded  in  the  Games  who  were  not 
wortli  tlie  trouble  of  curing. 

^  Tliis  was  the  "  maximum  auspioium."     (Serv.  in  Aen.  ii.  693.) 

^  This  science  was  afterward  committed  to  the  lUiri  fulgurales. 


EELIGIOUS   ORGANIZATION.  131 

tongue,  its  mind,  and  even  its  gestures.  But  the  heavier  the  yoke, 
the  more  violent  was  the  revolt ;  we  shall  see  how  in  the  last 
century  of  the  Republic  the  most  audacious  infidelity  succeeded  the 
blindest  faith.  Men  came  to  believe  in  naught  but  chance  or  fortune  ; 
still  later  in  nothing  at  all,  except  perhaps  unbridled  pleasures,  and 
then  the  repose  of  death,  —  nameless  sensualities,  and  after  satiety, 
suicide. 

Thus  among  the  Oscans  and  Sabellians  we  find  a  simple 
worship,  with  numberless  gods ;  in  Etruria,  a  religion  which  would 
fain  account  for  life  and  death,  for  gootl  and  evil,  —  which,  showing 
everywhere  the  arbitrary  intervention  of  the  gods,  and  in  the 
natural  phenomena  a  manifestation  of  their  capricious  will,  required 
a  class  of  men  devoted,  for  the  sake  of  public  safety  and  the 
private  interests  of  each  citizen,  to  the  interpretation  and  expla- 
nation of  portents.  All  this  was  to  find  its  wa}"  into  Rome, — the 
Latin  or  Sabine  sacrificer  and  the  Tuscan  augur,  the  popular 
worship  and  the  sacerdotal  religion. 

But  we  do  not  find  those  oracles  of  Greece  which  were  so 
often  the  voice  of  wisdom  and  patriotism,  or  those  sacred  poets  of 
the  East  whose  songs  purified  the  national  beliefs.  In  Italy  reli- 
gion, which  was  rather  a  contract  with  the  gods  than  a  prayer  and 
an  act  of  gratitude,  never  opened  up  those  large  heavens  towards 
which  the  spirit  soars ;  and  the  Latin  genius  was  condemned  by 
this  shabby  creed  to  an  incurable  sterility.  High  abilities  were 
wanting,  for  invention  at  least ;  and  it  had  neither  philosophy 
—  that  deadly,  but  inevitable  companion  of  great  religious,  for  it  is 
the  search  after  the  ideal  in  thought  —  nor  art,  which  is  the  search 
after  the  ideal  in  sentiment  and  nature.  Whereas  the  glorious 
artists  of  Greece  pierced  the  depths  of  Olympus  with  then'  glance, 
to  obtain  thence  the  image  of  Zeus  or  Athene,  the  Roman  veiled 
his  head  while  accomplishing  the  sacred  rites ;  he  feared  to  look 
upon  his  gods,  and  he  never  held  in  esteem  those  who  endeavored 
to  place  them  before  him  in  marl)le  or  in  bronze. 

We  might  even  claim  the  religious  institutions  of  Numa  for 
the  ancient  populations  of  the  peninsula,  and  look  upon  tlie 
Twelve  Tables  as  a  monument  of  old  Italian  customs.  The 
laws  concerning  marriage,  the  power  of  the  father  and  husband, 
and    usury,    certainly    belong    to    the    most    remote    times ;     and 


132  INTRODUCTION. 

the  atrocious  nature  of  the  punishments  recalls  the  cold  cruelty 
of  the  heroic  age,  as  some  other  laws  and  customs  apj^ear  to 
have  been  taken  from  a  society  of  still  nomadic  shepherds.-' 
Neither  let  us  forget  the  fecial  right  established  by  the  Aequi,  the 
order  of  battle  {acies)  of  the  Etruscans,  whose  infantry,  drawn 
up  in  deep  lines,  resembled  a  wall  of  iron  {^iiiunun  fcrrciun) ;  the 
golden  crowns  in  imitation  of  oak-leaves,  as  a  military  reward ;  the 
armor  of  the  Samnite  soldier,  which  became  that  of  the  legionary ; 
and  the  simple  worship,  frugal  life,  and  severe  education  of  the 
shej)herds  and  husbandmen  of  Latium  and  the  Sabine  country ; 
the  luxury  and  art  of  Etruria,  —  and,  in  short,  a  mass  of  customs 
which  would  show  that  Rome  already  existed  in  ancient  Italy, 
were  it  not  necessary  to  add  something  especially  Roman,  —  the  idea 
of  the  State  overruling  all,  and  that  admirable  discipline  which 
of  such  diverse  elements  formed  an  original  society  and  the  most 
powei'ful  empire  that  the  world  had  hitherto  known. 


vm. 

STJMMAEY. 

THIS  is  a  very  deliberate  excursion  through  ancient  Italy ; 
but,  if  we  are  not  mistaken,  the  circuit  will  only  have  the 
effect  of  shortening  our  route.  Although  we  have  travelled  this 
long  journey  illumined  only  by  stray  lights,  we  have  been  able 
to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  very  ci^adle  of  Rome,  of  the  institutions 
from  which  hers  were  derived,  of  the  nations  Avho,  after  having 
formed  her  population,  produced  her  greatest  men.  In  the  consular 
annals  we  find  among  the  consuls  of  the  years  510  to  460,  B.  c, 
Volscians,  Auruncans,  Siculians,  Sabines,  Rutulians,  Etruscans,  and 
Latins.     Amongst  the  great  families, — 

The  Julii,  Servilii,  Tullii,  Geganii,  Quinctii,  Curatii,  and  Cloelii, 
come  from  Alba ; 

'  Dornseiffen :  "  Vestigia  v it ae  nomadicae  tarn  in  moribus  nuani  in  legibus  Romanis  con- 
spicua." 


SUMMARY. 


133 


The  Appii,  Postumii,  and  pruhahly  the  Valerii,  Fabii,  and 
Calpurnii,  who  called  themselves  the  descendants  of  Numa,  from 
the  Sabine  country  ; 

The  Furii  and  Hostilii,  from  Medullia  in  Latium  ; 

The  Octavii,  from  V'elitrae  ; 

The  Cilnii  (Maecenas  was  of  this  family)  and  the  Licinii,  from 
Arezzo ; 

The  Caeciuae,  from  Volaterra ; 

The  Vettii,  from  Clusium  ; 

The  Pomponii,  Papii,  and  Coponii,  from  Etruria ; 

The  Coruncanii  and  Sulpicii, 
from  Camerium ; 

The  Porcii  and  Mamilii,  who 
claimed  descent  from  Circe,  from 
Tusculum,  etc. 

Amonsrst  the  OTeat  names 
of  Roman  literature,  only  two, 
those  of  Caesar  and  Lucretius, 
belong  really  to  Rome ;  all  the 
others  are  Italians  :  Horace  is 
Apulian  ;  Ennius,  a  Messapian  ; 
Plautus,  from  Umbria  ;  Vergil, 
from  Mantua ;  Statins,  from 
Elea ;  Naevius,  from  Campa- 
nia ;  Lucilius,  from  Suessa- 
Aurunca  ;  Cicero,  like  Marius, 
is  a  Volscian  ;  Ovid,  a  Pe- 
lignian  ;  Cato,  a  Tusculan  ; 
Sallust,  a  Sabine  ;  Livy,  from 
Padua ;  the  two  Plinys,  from 
Como  ;  Catullus,  from  Verona ; 
[Martial  and  Seneca  were 
Spaniards].  Terence  was  even 
a  Carthaginian.  So  much  for 
men.  Let  us  proceed  to  mate- 
rial marks. 


'  Bronze  statuette  in  the  Payne  Knight  Collection  at  the  British  JIuseum ;  in  Mr.  Payne 
Knight's  collection  it  is  described  as  Cicero. 


1 34  INTRODUCTION. 

Rome  received  from  Etruria,  —  tlie  division  into  tribes,  curiae, 
and  centuries,  the  order  of  battle,  the  dress  of  the  magistrates, 
the  laticlave,  the  praetexta,  the  toga,  the  apex,^  the  curule  chair, 
the  lictors,  all  the  display  uf  the  triumphs  and  public  games,  the 
nundinae,^  the  sacred  character  of  property,  and  the  science  of 
the  augur,  —  that  is  to  say,  the  state  religion.  From  Latium,  the 
names  of  dictator  and  praetor,  the  fecial  right,  a  simple  religion 
which  placed  all  the  works  of  rural  life  imder  the  protection  of 
the  gods,  the  worship  of  Saturn,  protector  of  agriculture,  and  that 
of  Janus  and  Djana,  the  sun  and  the  moon,  united  in  the  double 
Janus ;  in  fact,  agricultural  customs  and  even  language.  From 
Samnium  and  the  Sabine  country,  the  title  of  hnperator,  the 
armor  and  weapons  of  the  soldiers,  severe  and  religious  customs, 
and  warrior  gods.  From  all  the  nations  which  surrounded  them, 
the  patriciate  or  patronage,  the  division  into  gentes,  clientship, 
paternal  authority,  the  worship  of  the  lares  and  fetich  gods,  such 
as  bread  or  Ceres,  the  spear  or  Mars,  the  divinities  of  the  rivers, 
lakes,  and  warm  springs.  In  short,  as  a  faithful  representation 
of  this  formation  of  Roman  society,  Romulus  and  Tullus  are 
Latins ;  Numa  and  Ancus,  Sabines ;  Servius  and  the  two  Tarquins, 
Etruscans. 

The  following  beautiful  and  expressive  legend  is  found  in 
Plutarch.  Romulus,  says  he,  called  men  from  Etruria,  who  taught 
him  the  holy  ceremonies  and  sacred  formulae.  They  had  a  trench 
dug  rcjund  the  Coniitium,  and  each  of  the  citizens  of  the  new 
city  threw  into  it  a  handfid  of  earth  brought  from  his  native 
country.  Then  they  mixed  the  whole,  and  gave  to  the  ditch, 
as  to  the  universe,  the  name  of  the  Avorld  {mundus)} 

^  Laliiiavc,  a  tunic,  edged  from  top  to  bottom  with  a  broad  j)urj)Ie  band,  woven  in  the 
material,  the  mark  of  a  senator ;  praetexta,  a  toga  bordered  with  purple  and  worn  by  magis- 
trates (or  noble  children) ;  apex,  a  headdress  of  the  ilamens  and  the  Salii.  The  apex  is  seen 
on  a  quantity  of  coins  and  monuments,  the  laticlave  in  very  rare  paintings. 

^  Nnndinus  (iwvena  dies),  the  ninth  day,  or  market-day. 

^  The  mundns  of  Romulus  was  the  world  of  the  manes  and  the  subterranean  deities. 
Every  time  that  a  city  was  founded,  a  mundus  was  opened,  into  which  were  thrown  the  firsts 
fruits  of  all  the  crops,  with  objects  of  good  omen.  It  was  a  religious  custom,  which  existed 
even  in  Assyria,  where,  in  the  foundations  of  monuments,  were  placed  the  idols  which  should 
protect  them.  AVlien  we  fix  coins  in  the  first  stone  of  an  edifice,  we  do  something  analogous 
with  totally  different  ideas ;  and  this  custom,  which  only  serves  to  mark  the  date  of  the  erec- 
tion of  the  monument,  is  perhaps  a  very  remote  souvenir  of  a  religious  usage  which  has  been 
secularized. 


SUMMAliY. 


135 


Thus  all  the  Italian  nationalities,  all  the  powers,  all  the    civili- 
zations of  the  ancient  world  were  destined  to  fall   into  the    bosom 


of  Rome  and  mingle  there. 


JANUS    AS,    COIN   FOUND    AT    VOLTERRA. 


HISTORY     OF     ROME. 


FIRST    PERIOD. 

ROME  UNDER  THE  KINGS   (753-510  b.  c). 

FORxMATION  OF  THE  ROMAN  PEOPLE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

TRADITIONAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  KINGS.' 

'fls  eV  TOiS  iraTpiOis   vuvois  uwb 
^'Pwfiaiuv  6Ti  Koi    vvv  aSeroi. 

DioXYSlUS:  Ant.  llom.l.  79. 

I.   Romulus  (753-71G). 

EOME,  the  city  of  strength^  and  war  and  bloodshed,  was  pleased 
to  place  an  idyl  at  the  beginning  of  her  formidable  history ; 
Nero's   city,  ascribing  to  her  first  days  the  virtues  of  the  age   of 

^  We  do  not.  propose  to  discuss  the  legends  of  the  royal  period.  The  rentier  curious  in 
intellectual  diversions  of  this  kind  will  do  well  to  consult  the  first  volume  of  Niebidir,  in 
which  all  these  traditions  are  collected  and  critically  considered ;  also  Schwegler's  History, 
in  which  they  are  also  taken  up  and  discussed.  For  ourselves,  to  any  hypotheses,  however 
ingenious  and  erudite.  —  which  must  still  be  as  incapable  of  proof  as  are  the  legends  they 
combat, — we  prefer  Livy's  admirable  narrative,  if  not  as  actual  truth,  at  least  as  ])icture. 
Details  more  or  less  authentic  in  respect  to  the  biographies  of  certain  personages  are,  after  all, 
of  little  consequence.  One  thing  only  is  really  imjiortant,  since  it  is  what  men  of  all  times 
desire  to  understand,  and  that  is  the  question  how  this  singular  city  was  formed,  which  grew 
to  be  a  nation,  a  world.  This  problem  will  occupy  us  far  more  than  the  idle  or  insoluble 
questions  which,  since  Niebuhr's  time,  have  been  so  much  agitated  in  German\-.  [The 
course  here  adopted  is  that  of  Arnold,  who  tells  the  old  legends  as  legends,  without  any  attempt 
to  sift  history  from  them.  ]\Iommsen  contemptuously  ignores  them  altogether.  Ihne's  little 
book  on  the  earhest  epoch  of  Roman  history  is  the  best  discussion  of  the  problem  in  English.  — 
Ed.'] 

-  The  Greek  word  for  Rome  means  strength ;  and  the  city's  secret  name  was  perhaps 
Valcntia,  from  the  verb  valere,  which  has  the  same  meaning.     See  p.  142,  n.  2. 


138 


ROME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


gold,  began  her  legendary  annals  with  a  reign  of  Saturn,  —  a  period 
of  umocence,  peace,  and  equality,  of  rustic  labors  and  simple 
_  pleasures. 

In  the  beginning,  says  tradition, 
a  stranger    king    reigned  over   the 
people   of   Latium,  Janus,  the  sun- 
god,  whose  dwelling  was  upon  the 
Janiculum.     His  subjects  had  the  in- 
nocent and  simple,  but  rude  and  un- 
cultured, manners  of  primeval  man. 
From  this  king,  Saturnus,  wbo  had 
been  driven  out  of  heaven  by  Jupi- 
ter, obtained  the  gift  of  the  Capi- 
toline  Hill ;  ^  and  in  return  for  this 
hospitality,  taught  the  Latins  how 
to    cultivate    corn    and    the   vine. 
This  is  the  age  of  agriculture,  suc- 
ceeding the  pastoral  age,  when  men 
lived   by   the    fruits    of    the    chase 
and   upon   the    acorns  which    they 
gathered   under   the  great  oaks  of 
the   Latin    for-est.     Saturnus,  "  the 
good   sower,"  ^  was   also  the   good 
harvester,  and  was  long  represented 
with  a  sickle,  which  later  ages,  per- 
verting   the     original     myth,    con- 
verted into  the  scythe  of  Time. 
To  him  succeeded  Picus,  his  son,  a  famous  sooth- 
sayer  having   the    gift    of    oracles,    and    "  the    good " 
Faunus,  the  founder  of  important  religious  institutions, 
who  was  worshipped   in    later   times    in    his    twofold 
character   as   the    god  of    fields    and    shepherds,   and 
SATURNUS.*        as  an  oracular  and    prophetic  divinity.     Faunus    also 


1  This  hill  was  called  at  first  the  Mount  of  Saturn.     (Varro,  de  Ling.  lat.  v.  42  ;  Aen. 
viii.  358.) 

2  Salor  means  sower. 

*  Taken  from  the  Monuments  of  Ancient  Art  of  jNIiiller-Wisler. 

*  The  cross  placed  under  the  chin  indicates  that  the  piece  is  a  silver  denarius.     Behind 
there  is  the  sickle  of  the  divine  husbandman. 


TKADITIONAL   HISTORY    OF   THE   KINGS. 


139 


welcomed  the  Arcadiiin  Evander,  son  of  Mercury  and  the  nynipli 
Carmenta.  Evander  built  a  town  on  the  Palatine,  then  covered 
with  woods  and  meadows,  and  diffused  among  the  natives  the  use 
of  the  Greek  alphabet  and  more  refined  manners.  Hercules  also 
came  unto  Latium,  where  he  abolished  human  sacrifices  ;  ^  he 
married  the  daughter  of  Evander,  killed  the  brigand  Cacus  on  the; 
Aventine.  in  the  middle  of  a  thick  forest,  and  pastured  the  oxen 
of  Gerjon  in  a  place 
where,  afterward,  an  ox 
of  bronze,  set  Tip  in  his 
honor  in  the  Fonmi 
hoarium,  consecrated  the 
memory  of  this  circum- 
stance. Thus  the  gods, 
the  demi-gods,  and  the 
heroes  sojourned  on  the 
banks  of  the  Tiber.  This 
was  an  omen  of  the  future 
grandeur  of  the  City  of 
the  Seven  Hills  ;  or  rather, 
legtaid  Ijrought  them  thither  when  Rome,  havmg  become  power- 
ful, was  desirous  that  immortals  should  have  surrounded  her 
cradle.^ 


AENEAS    CARRYING    ANCniSES.^ 


*  Professor  Capellini  tliinlcs  that  he  has  found  traces  of  cannibalism  in  the  Island  of 
Palmaria.  Many  facts  lead  one  to  the  belief  that  this  ])ractice,  which  still  exists  in  certain 
islands  of  Oceania,  was  universal  in  the  first  ages  of  humanity.  Certain  Roman  customs 
recalled  the  memory  of  it.  Every  }ear,  says  Varro  (tie  Lint/.  Int.  vii.  44),  the  Vestals  threw 
into  the  Tiber,  from  the  top  of  the  Sublician  Bridge,  twenty-four  osier  figures,  to  replace 
the  human  victims  that  they  no  longer  threw  in  after  the  time  of  Hercules.  The  nscillae, 
small  dolls  which  were  placed  over  the  door  of  the  house  or  hung  on  ^he  neighboring 
trees,  also  recalled  to  memory  the  heads  of  men  which  were  formerly  offered  to  Saturn 
as  a  redemption.  (Macr.,  Sal.  I.  vii.  .31,  and  xi.  48.)  At  the  feast  of  the  Luperei,  the 
priest  with  a  bloody  knife  touched  the  foreheads  of  two  young  men,  and  until  the  time 
of  the  Empire,  at  the  Latin  Feriae,  a  criminal  was  slain  whose  l)l()od  sprinkled  the  altar  of 
Jupiter.     [.Ml  tliis  points  only  to  human  sacrifices,  not  to  cannibalism. — /i'/.] 

'  Painting  on  a  vase  of  Nola,  at  the  ^lunich  ]Muscura. 

*  On  the  legend  of  Hercules  and  Cacus,  see  the  learned  memoir  of  M.  Breal  (.l/eV.  de 
.Mi/lh.),  in  which  he  follows,  from  the  hanks  of  the  (ranges  to  the  shores  of  the  Tiber,  a 
similar  history,  that  of  the  contest  of  Indra  and  Vitra,  of  Ormuzd  and  .\hriman,  of 
Hercules  and  Cacus.  "Vergil,"  says  he  (p.  15!)),  "has  related  this  history  as  a  poet  of  the 
Vedic  times  might  have  done;  and  the  verses  which  he  jiuts  into  the  mouth  of  the 
i^alian  priests  would  not  be  out  of  place  in  the  most  ancient  of  the  liymns  of  the  Aryan 
race." 


140 


ROME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


Through  Saturn,  the  father  of  the  gods,  Rome  was  connected  with 
what  was  greatest  in  heaven  ;  through  Aeneas,  the  son  of  Venus 
and  ancestor  of  Romulus,  with  that  which  Greek  poetry  had  made 
the  greatest  iipon  earth, —  the  city  of  Priam.  Having  escaped  from 
the  burning  Troy  witli  his  father  Anchises,  liis  son  Ascanius,  and 
his  wife  Creiisa,  who  carried  the  sacred  objects  and  the  Palladium, 
he  crossed  the  Helles]3ont ;  and  after  having  wandered  for  a  long 
time  on  land  and  sea,  he  was  led  by  the  star  of  his  mother,  which 
guided  his  ship  by  day  as  well  as  by  night,  to  the  shores  of 
Latium.^  Latinus,  king  of  the  country,  welcomed  the  stranger, 
gave  him  his  daughter  Lavinia  to  wife,  and  to  his  companions 
seven  hundred  acres  of  land,  seven  for  each.  But  in  a  Ixittle 
against  the  Rutulians,  Aeneas,  conqueror  of 
Turnus,  disappeared  in  the  midst  of  the 
waters  of  the  Numicius,  the  sacred  water  of 
which  was  afterward  used  in  the  worship 
of  Vesta.  The  gods  had  received  the  hero. 
He  was  worshipped  under  the  name  of  Jupiter 
Indigetes.  The  war,  however,  continued,  and 
AENEAS.^  ill   single    combat    Ascanius    killed    Mezentius, 

the  ally  of  Turnus.  Tlien,  leaving  the  arid 
and  unhealthy  coast  where  his  father  had'  founded  Lavinium, 
he  came  to  build  Allja  Longa,  in  the  heart  of  the  country, 
on  the  Alban  mountain,  the  summit  of  which  commands  all 
Latium,  and  affords  a  view  of  the  Tiller,  the  sea,  and  the  storm- 
beaten  crests  of  the  Apennines.  Twelve  kings  of  the  race  of  Aeneas 
succeeded  him  ;  one  of  them,  Procas,  had  two  sons,  ISumitor  and 
Amulius.  The  former,  by  right  of  age,  ought  to  have  inherited 
the  kingdoip ;  but  Amulius  took  possession  of  it,  killed  the  son  of 
Numitor,  placed  his  daughter  Sylvia  among  the  Vestals,  and  only 
allowed  his  brother  a  portion  of  the  private  domains  of  their  father. 
Now  one  day  when  Sylvia  had  gone  to    the   fountain  of  the  sacred 

'  Serv.  in^4en.  i.  382.  As  early  as  the  sixth  century  n.  c,  Stesiehorus  asserted  the  arri- 
val of  Aeneas  in  Italy.  Aristotle,  in  the  fourth,  adopted  this  tradition,  and  the  historian 
Timaeus,  in  the  third,  popularized  it.  We  shall  see  later  on  that  at  the  time  of  the  First 
Punic  War  it  was  accepted  at  Rome. 

''pp.  TR.  POT.  COS.  III.  sc,  that  is  to  say,  Father  of  the  country,  third  year  of  the 
tribunitian  power,  and  third  consulate  (a.  n.  140)  ;  a  ]iiece  struck  by  order  of  the  Senate. 
It  is  the  reverse  of  a  lari;e  bronze  of  Antonine  representing  Aeneas,  who  is  carrying 
Anchises  and  holding  his  son  Ascauius  by  the  hand. 


TILVDITIU^AL   lUSTUiiY    Ul'   THE   Kl^iGS. 


141 


wood,  to  draw  the  water  ncccssarv  for  the  temple,  Mavs  appeared 
to  her,  and  promised  divine  children  to  the  frightened  maiden, 
llavmg  become  a  mother,  Sylvia  wa.s  condemned  to  death,  accord- 
ing "to  the  rigorous  laws  of  the  worship  of  Vesta,  and  her  twin 
sons  were  exposed  on  the  Tiber.  The  rivei-  luid  then  overflowed  its 
1  tanks;  the  cradle  was  gently  carried  by  tlic  waters  as  far  as  the 
Palatuie  Hill,  where  it  stopped  at  the  foot  of  a  wild  fig-tree.^     Mars 


RIIEA    SYLVIA. 


ROME    AND    THE    SHE-WOLF." 


FAVSTl'LUS.'' 


did  not  abandon  the  two  children.  A  she-wolf,  attracted  by  their 
cries,  or  rather,  sent  liy  the  god  whose  symbol  was  the  wolf, 
nourished  them  with  her  milk.  Afterward  a  sparrow-hawk  brought 
them  stronger  nourishment,  while  Ijiixls  sacred  to  the  augurs  hovered 
over  their  cradle  to  keep  off  the  insects.  Struck  by  these  miracles, 
Faustulus,  a  shepherd  of  the  King's  flocks,  took  the  two  children 
and  gave  them  to  his  wife,  Acca  Larentia,  who  called  them  Romulus 
and  Remus.^ 

'  The  Jicus  Ruminalis,  religiously  preserved  through  centuries.  Ihimn,  or  7-umis,  has 
the  meaning  of  nunniiia  (Varr.,  de  Re  rust.  II.  i.  •><!).  and  the  Tiber  itself  was  called  Rumon, 
that  is,  the  river  with  fertilizing  waters.  (Serv.  in  Aen.  viii.  63.)  Hence  came  the  names 
of  Rome,  Romulus,  and  Remus.  (Philargyr.  in  Verg.,  Eel.  i.  -20.)  The  bed  of  the  Tiber 
formerly  reached  from  the  Pincio  to  the  Janiculum.  Although  this  ri\er  has  now  a  width  of 
only  1H5  feet,  it  still  frequently  overflows  into  the  streets:  a  rising  of  32  feet  has  been  marked 
on  the  church  of  ^linerva.     That  of  the  2yth  of  Decemljer.  1S70,  was  IS  yards,  2  feet. 

^  The  Aemilii  jiretended  that  Rhea  Sylvia  belonged  to  the  Aemihan  gens,  and  they  put 
her  image  on  some  of  their  medals.  That  which  we  give  is  taken  from  a  die  of  Antoninus, 
who  was  fond  of  recalUug  on  his  coins,  facts  or  monuments  of  the  primitive  history  of 
Rome. 

*  .\  didradnne  of  Camjianian  make,  in  silver.  Pieces  of  two  drachmae  are  rare.  The 
drachme  was  almost  ecpiivalent  to  a  franc. 

<  SEX  .  P0:M  .  FOSTLVS  RO.M.X.  Faustulus  standing  on  the  left;  before  him  the 
wolf  suckling  the  twins ;  in  the  background  the  Ruminal  fig-tree  with  three  crows.  Reverse  of 
a  silver  coin  of  the  Pompeian  family. 

'  I>ivy  (i.  4)  alludes  to  other  accounts,  in  which  Acca  Larentia,  on  account  of  her 
loose  morals,  was  given  a  name  for  courtesan,  lu/m,  the  she-wolf.  Nothing  more  would 
be  reipiired  for  forming  the  famous  legend  on  this  name.  It  was  already  pojiular  in  'I'JIJ,  a 
time  when  the  wolf  anil  the  twins  were  officially  consecrated  on  the  Palatine;  but  it  was  not 
very  ancient,  since  the  coins  of  Rome  bore  the  impress  of  the  sow  before  that  of  the  wolf, 
which  does  not  appear  till  the  quadrantes  of  the  fifth  century.  Acca  Larentia  was  a  telluric 
goddess,  who  personified  the  earth  in  which  we  place  the  dead,  and  seeds,  whence  life  springs ; 


142  ROME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

Brought  up  on  the  Palatine  in  huts  of  straw,  like  the  hardy 
children  of  the  shepherd,  they  grew  in  strength  and  courage, 
fearlessly  attacking  wild  beasts  and  brigands,  and  asserting  their 
rights  l»y  force.  The  companions  of  Romulus  were  called  the 
Quintilii :  those  of  Remus,  the  Fal)ii ;  and  already  division  broke 
out  between  them.  One  day,  however,  the  two  brothers  had  a 
quarrel  with  the  shepherds  of  the  rich  Numitor,  whose  flocks  fed 
on  the  Aventine,  and  Remus,  surprised  in  an  amlnish,  was  taken 
by  them  to  Alba  before  their  master.  The  prisoner's  features, 
his  age,  the  twin  Inrtli,  struck  Numitor :  he  caused  Romulus  to 
be  brought  before  him ;  and  Faustulus  disclosed  t(  >  the  two  young 
men  the  secret  of  their  birth.  Aided  by  their  companions,  they 
killed  Amulius,  and  Alba  returned  to  the  sway  of  its  lawful 
king.  In  return,  Numitor  permitted  them  to  build  a  town  on 
the  banks  of  the  river,  and  gave  up  to  them  all  the  country 
which  extended  from  the  Tiber  <jn  the  road  to  Alba  as  far  as 
a  place  called  Festi,  about  five  or  six  miles  distant.^ 

Equal  in  power  and  authority,  the  two  l)rothers  soon  dis- 
puted the  honor  of  choosing  the  site  and  the  name''^  of  the  new 
city.  It  was  left  to  the  gods,  whose  will  they  consulted  by  the 
Sabellian  augury  through  the  flight  of  Ijirds.  Remus,  on  the 
Aventine,  first  saw  six  vultures ;  but  almost  at  the  same  time 
twelve  appeared  to  Romulus,  on  the  Palatine ;  and  their  com- 
panions, won  over  by  this  happy  omen,  pronounced  in  his 
favor.     So    the    plebeian  hill,   already  sullied    in    the    most    ancient 

so  her  festival  was  celebrated  at  the  winter  solstice.  At  the  sixth  hour,  at  the  moment  when 
the  year  passed  away,  the  Quirinal  flamen  offered  a  saei-ifice  to  the  manes  in  honor  of  the 
"Mother  of  the  Lares," — this  is  the  meaning  of  her  name;  and  the  rest  of  the  day  was 
consecrated  to  Jupiter,  the  god  of  light  and  regenerated  life.  [The  curious  analogies  in  the 
stories  of  the  birth  and  education  of  Cyrus,  preserved  by  Herodotus,  show  that  we  probably 
have  before  us  an  old  .\ryan  legend,  however  late  it  may  appear  at  Rome.  —  EdJ] 

1  This  is  the  (iger  Hoiudnus.  Under  Tiberius  expiatory  sacrifices  were  still  offered  there, 
intended  to  purify  the  primitive  frontier.  1"he  Roman  mile,  or  thousand  iiares  of  five  feet,  is 
equivalent  to  about  1,(.)'20  yards. 

-  The  profane  name  was  Roma  (see  p.  137,  n.  2)  ;  the  sacerdotal  name,  Ftom.  1'here  was  a 
third  secret  name,  possibly  Amor,  an  anagram  of  Roma,  which  it  was  forbidden  to  pronounce, 
under  pain  of  death.  (Munter,  De  occulta  urhis  Roniae  nomine.)  Others  think  it  Valentia,  or 
Angeroma.  (Cf.  Maury,  memoir  on  Servius  Tuliius.)  Great  care  was  taken  to  conceal  this 
name,  says  Pliny  (Hist.  Nat.,  xxviii.  4),  because  it  belonged  at  the  same  time  to  the 
tutelar  deit}-  of  the  city.  As  long  as  it  remained  unknown,  the  hostile  jiriests  could  not  induce 
this  god  to  abandon  his  people,  by  ]iromising  in  their  city  greater  honors,  ampliorcm  cultum, 
which,  according  to  the  idea  of  the  ancients,  was  the  determining  reason  of  the  favor  of  the 
gods. 


TKADlTKiNAL    JllSTUliY    UF    1  HE    KINGS. 


143 


ROMULUS.^ 


traditions  as  the  abode   of  the   brigand   Cacus,  remained  so  by  the 
unhicky  omen  of  Remus.     It  seems  always  doomed :  at  the  present 
day    it    is  a  waste,  where  a  few  monks    dwell 
about  deserted  churches.^ 

Following  Etruscan  rites  ^  Romulus  yoked 
a  Inill  and  a  heifer  without  spot  to  a  plough, 
and  with  a  bronze  ploughshare  he  traced 
around  the  Palatine  a  furrow  which  repre- 
sented the  circuit  of  the  walls  the  pomeriuni, 
or  sacred  enclosure.^  beyond  which  began  the 
secular  town,  the  city  of  strangers  and  ple- 
beians, devoid  of   auspices  (April   21,   754'^). 

Already  the  rampart  was  rising,  when 
Remus  ua  derision  jumped  over  it ;  Ijut  Celer, 
or  Romulus  himself,  killed  him,  crying  out : 
"  Thus  perish  every  one  who  shall  cross  these 
walls."     Legend  placed  Ijlood  in  the  foundations 

of  this   city,  which  was  destined  to    shed    more    than    any  city   of 
the  world  has  done.'' 

The    Palatine,    the    highest    of    the    seven    hills    of    Rome    (168 

'  M.  Maury  sees  in  this  legend  the  opposition  of  two  oppida  existing  on  the  two  rival 
hills,  one  of  which,  the  Aventine,  bore  the  name  of  Remiiria,  —  whence  the  name  of  Remus. 

-  Varro,  rfe  Lint/,  lat.  v.  32;  Plut.,  Horn.  11. 

'  Auhis  Gellius,  xiii.,  xiv.  :  .  .  .  rjui  Jhcit  Jinein  urbnnl  auspicii  Under  Servius  six 
hills  were  enclosed  in  the  pomeriura  ;  up  to  the  time  of  Claudius,  the  Aventine  remained  out- 
side this  enclosure.     Fest.,  s.  v.  Posimeriiim  ;  Dionys.,  iv.  13  :  Tac,  Ann.  xii.  "24. 

^  We  give  this  figure  as  we  give  the  legendary  history  of  Rome.  Neither  the  one  nor 
the  other  is  authentic.  The  statues  of  the  Seven  Kings  were  certainly  preserved  on  the  Cap- 
itol, but  they  were  conventional  images.  It  is,  however,  as  interesting  to  know  how  the 
Romans  represented  their  great  personages  as  to  know  how  they  conceived  the  history  of 
then-  first  days.  [Xevertbeless,  these  imaginary  portraits  are  only  of  interest  if  really  ancient, 
and  not  the  conscious  invention  of  a  late  and  sceptical  ago.  The  portraits  of  these  kings  look 
more  hke  Renaissance  fancies,  than  old  Roman  work.  They  are  ai)]>arcntly  enlarged  from 
heads  found  on  coins  with  the  legend  of  the  names.  —  Efl.1 

^  Tliis  ancient  wall  of  Roma  quadrata  was  found  in  the  excavations  undertaken  on  tlie 
site  of  the  Palace  of  the  Caesars.  It  is  a  wall  evidently  built  under  the  influence  of  the 
architectural  ideas  of  Etruria.     The  same  is  the  case  with  the  wall  of  Servius. 

°  The  difficulties  of  Roman  chronology  are  as  inextricable  as  the  legends  of  its  history  : — 

1st.  Until  the  time  of  Augustus  they  reckoned  by  the  consuls  and  from  the  expulsiqn  of  the 
kings ;  but  some  consulships  were  omitted.  Livy  himself,  by  his  own  calculations,  may  be  con- 
victed of  having  omitted  several.  On  account  of  city  troubles,  or  by  the  fraud  of  the  pontiff, 
some  were  made  to  last  longer,  others  less,  than  the  vear.  The  intercalations  of  interregnums 
and  dictatorships,  the  variations  of  the  date  of  entering  on  their  duties,  fixed  sometimes  on  the 
31st  of  December,  sometimes  (after  the  Second  Punic  War)  on  the  19th  of  March  or  on  the  Ides 
of  Alay,  finally,  after  the  year  153,  on  the   1st  of  Januarv.  led  to  such  confusion,  that,  when 


144  ROME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

feet),  was  nearly  2,000  yards  in  circumference,  so  that  access  to 
it  was  easy. 

But,  at  a  little  distance,  the  Capitoline  Hill  (145  feet)  de- 
scended by  steep  declivities  into  the  marshes ;  this  position,  then, 
was  already  strong  in  itself.  Romulus  there  carried  out  works  of 
defence,  which  made  it  the  citadel  of  Rome. 

In  order  to  increase  the  population  of  tlTe  new  city,  he  opened 

Caesar  reformed  the  calendar,  it  was  necessary  to  make  a  year  of  fifteen  months,  in  order  to 
put  the  civil  year  in  accord  with  the  course  of  the  sun. 

2d.  The  Roman  year  is  four  months  behind  the  Christian  year,  and  three  months  in 
advance  of  the  Greek  year;  so  that  the  year  of  Kome  300  eorresDonds  t(j  eight  months  of  the 
year  454  B.  c,  and  four  months  of  the  year  45.3  B.  c. ;  and  for  the  Olympiads,  to  three  months 
of  01.  81,3,  and  nine  months  of  Ol.  SI,  4.  Consequently,  even  if  this  chronology  were  certain, 
there  must  be  continual  rectifications  in  reckoning  the  years  before  Christ. 

3d.  Livy  avows  that  great  confusion  still  existed  concerning  the  period  which  followed 
the  expulsion  of  the  kings, — Uinli  e?-rores  implicant  teinporum  .  .  .  (ii.  21);  and  there  is,  in 
truth,  no  certainty  in  Ronum  chronology  until  after  taking  of  Rome  by  the  Gauls,  because  the 
Greeks  knew  this  event  and  connected  it  with  their  own  chronology,  in  01.  98,  1  or  2,  or  even, 
according  to  Varro,  01.  97,  2.  When  they  began  at  a  rather  late  date  to  establish  a  chro- 
nology for  Roman  history,  it  was  a  traditional  belief  (see  Serv.  in  Aen.  i.  268)  that  Rome  had 
been  founded  3()0  years  after  the  downfall  of  Troy,  and  that  between  its  foundation  and  de- 
struction by  the  Gauls  the  same  number  of  years  had  elapsed.  Of  this  period  of  360  years,  a 
tliird,  or  120,  was  allowed  for  the  consuls;  the  other  two  thirds,  or  240,  with  four  intercalary 
years,  244,  formed  the  period  of  the  kings.  Now  300  b.  c,  the  date  of  the  taking  of  Rome  hy 
the  Gauls,  plus  364,  give  754.  But  as  there  was  a  variation  of  some  years  in  the  same  funda- 
mental date,  some  took  754,  others  753,  or  752  (Fabius,  01.  8,  1  ;  Polybiiis  and  Corn.  Nep., 
01.  7,  2;  Cato,  01.  7,  1  ;  Varro,  01.  6,  3;  and  the  Cupitoline  Annuls,  01.  6,  4).  They  went  as 
far  as  to  fix  the  day  (April  21st),  and  even  the  hour,  when  Romulus  had  traced  out  the 
pomerium.     The  value  of  such  a  chronology  will  be  easily  appreciated. 

[The  early  Roman,  like  the  Greek,  chronology,  reasoned  down  from  remote  mythical 
dates,  not  up  from  known  liistorical  facts.  Tlie  use  of  60-year  cycles  is  just  as  clear  in  the 
legends  of  the  birth  of  Homer.  Cf.  the  criticism  in  my  Greek  Literature,  vol.  i.  Appendix  B., 
and  in  my  Essay  on  the  Olympiads  in  the  Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies,  ii.  164,  neq.  —  Ed.'] 

4th.  As  regards  the  three  last  kings  in  particular,  Cicero  and  Livy  represented  Tarquin 
the  Proud,  who  died  in  495  B.C.,  as  the  son  of  Tarquin  the  Elder,  who  had  come  to  Rome 
with  his  wife  135  years  before,  —  hence  chronological  impossibilities  of  which  the  legend  had 
never  dreamed. 

5th.  Finally,  the  244  years  of  the  royal  period  give  on  an  average  35  years  for  each 
reiwn.  Now  Rome  was  an  elective  monarchy,  in  which  the  throne  was  only  reached  at  the  age 
of  ex|)erience  and  maturity;  moreover,  of  seven  kings,  two  only  finished  their  life  and  their 
reign  in  peace.  So  Newton,  only  allowing  17  years  as  an  average  for  each  reign,  reduced 
these  244  years  to  119,  and  jjlaced  the  founding  of  Rome  about  630  B.C.  Niebidir  has 
remarked  that  Venice,  arepubhc  which  also  had  elective  chiefs,  reckoned,  from  805  to  1311,  40 
doges;  which  gives  an  average  of  12J  years  for  each.  We  can  infer  nothing  from  these  cal- 
culations, for,  in  S]iain,  from  1516  to  1759  (243  years),  there  were  only  seven  kings,  but  not 
elective;  as  many  in  France,  from  987  to  1223  (236  years),  and  from  1589  to  1830,  240  years, 
there  would  have  been,  reckoning  as  the  Restoration  did,  seven  kings,  two  of  whom  died  a 
violent  death,  a  third  finished  his  life  in  exile,  and  a  fourth  died  at  the  age  of  ten. 

This  chronology  of  the  early  times  of  Rome  must  therefore  be  suspicious,  like  the  liistory 
of  its  first  kings.     We  will  follow  it,  however,  in  default  of  a  better  one. 


o 
« 

O 


o 


o 


TRADITIONAL    HISTORY    OF   TIIK    KINGS.  145 

an  asylum  in  the  mid.st  of  tlic  uak.s  wliicli  grew  in  the  Intermontium, 
between  the  two  sununits  of  the  Capitoline,  ami  lie  made  it  a 
sacred  wood ;  *  then  he  asked  those  in  the  neighboring  cities  to 
unite  themselves  by  marriages  to  his  people.  Everywhere  they 
refused  with  contempt.  "  Ojjen,"  said  they,  "an  asylum  for  women 
too."  He  dissembled ;  Ijut  at  the  festival  of  the  god  Consus,^  he 
caused  all  the  young  girls  to  be  carried  off  who  had  come  to  the 
eames  with  their  fathers.  There  was  no  concerted  action  to 
punish  this  outrage.  The  Coeninates,  the  first  ready,  were  beaten ; 
Romulus  killed  their  king,  Acron,  and  consecrated  his  arms,  as 
spolia  opima,  to  Jupiter  Foretrius.  The  Crustiuninians 
and  the  Antemnates  met  with  the  same  fate  and  lost 
their  lands.  But  the  Sabines  from  Cures,  led  by 
their  king,  Tatius,  penetrated  as  far  as  the  Capitoline 
Hill,  and  took  possession,  through  the  treachery  of 
Tarpeia,  of  the  citadel,  wliicli  Romulus  had  built  on 
one  of  the  peaks ;  the  other  summit  bore  later  on  the  temple  of 
Jupiter.  For  opening  the  gates  to  the  Sabines,  Tarpeia  had  asked 
from  them  what  they  carried  on  the  left  arm,  —  namely,  golden  brace- 
lets. But  on  this  arm  they  also  carried  their  Ijucklers ;  on  entering, 
they  threw  them  at  her,  and  she  was  smothered  under  their  weight. 
The  people  long  believed  that  at  the  end  of  the  gloomy  tunnels 
excavated  in  the  Capitoline,  the  beautiful  Tarpeia  lived,  seated  in 
the  midst  of  her  treasures ;  but  that  he  who  attempted  to  penetrate 
to  her,  must  infallibly  perish.*  The  Romans  were  already  fleeing, 
when  Romulus,  vowing  a  temple  to  Jupiter  Stator,*"  renewed  the 
combat,  which  was  stayed  Isy  the  Sabine  women  throwing  themselves 

1  Not  only  were  certain  woods  sacred,  but  also  certain  trees,  notably  those  which  had  been 
struck  by  lightning.  PUny  {Hist.  Nat.  xU.  1,  2)  calls  trees  the  first  temples  of  tlie  gods. 
'I'liis  worship  was,  in  fact,  very  ancient,  since  it  commences  among  the  Greelcs  with  the  oak  of 
Dodona,  and  is  continued  by  the  laurel  of  Apollo,  the  olive  of  JIiner\a,  the  myrtle  of  Venus, 
the  poplar  of  Hercules,  etc.,  and  it  was  still  in  active  existence  at  the  time  of  Ajjuleius. 

^  This  god,  whose  name  it  has  been  attempted  to  derive  from  the  adjective  conditus, 
which  signifies  hidden,  appears  to  have  been  a  subterranean  deity.  (Hartung,  Die  Relir/ion  tier 
Horn.,  ii.  87.) 

s  TVR1TLI.\NVS  III.  VIR.,  that  is  to  say,  monetary  triumvir.  Tarpeia  crashed  by  the 
shields  and  raising  her  hands  to  heaven.     Silver  coin  oi  the  Petronian  family- 

■•  This  is  the  only  ancient  legend  which  still  exists  amongst  the  people  of  Rome,  said 
Niebuhr  ;  but  since  his  time  it  has  been  forgotten. 

^  This  temple,  at  first  very  unpretending,  was  several  times  reconstructed.  The  engraving 
on  p.  146  gives  its  restored  form  according  to  the  works  of  Canina  and  ^1.  Dutcrt,  the  author  of 
a  very  fine  memoir  of  the  Roman  Forum. 

VOL.    I.  10 


146 


ROME   UNDER    THE   KINGS. 


between  their  fathers  and  their  husbands.      Peace  was  concluded, 

and  the  first  basis  of  tlie  greatness 
of  Rome  established  by  the  union  of  the 
two  armies.  The  double-headed  Janus 
became  the  symbol  of  the  new  nation.^ 

At  the  end  of  five  years  Tatius 
was  killed  by  the  Laurentines,  to 
whom  he  refused  justice  for  a 
murder,  and  the  Saliines  consented 
to  recognize  Romulus  as  sole  king. 
Victories  over  the  Fidenates  and 
Veientines  justified  this  choice.  But 
uoMAN  BRACELET.^  Quc  day,  wlieu    he    was    reviewing    his 

troops  near  the  Capraean  iharsli,  a  storm  dispersed  the  assembly  ; 
when  the  j)eople  returned,  the  King  had  dis- 
appeared. A  senator,  Proculus,  swore  that  he 
had  seen  him  ascend  to  heaven  on  the  chariot 
of  Mars,  amid  thunder  and  lightning,  and 
he  was  worshipped  iinder  the  name  of  Quirinus. 
The  Senate  had  sacrificed  him  to  their  fears, 
or  the   Sabines  to  their  resentment. 


II.    NuMA  (715-673). 

The  two  nations  could  not  agree  as  to  the 

appointmeiit  of   his    successor,   and    for   a   year 

the    senators    governed    l)y    turns   as   interreges. 

At     length    it    was    settled    that    the    Romans    should    make    the 

selection,  on  condition  that    they  chose  a    Sabine.     A    voice    named 

1  In  memory  of  this  peace  Roman  ladies  celelirated  on  tlic  Calends  of  ]\Iarcli  (March  1st) 
tne  festival  of  the  matrormlia.  In  the  morning  they  ascended  in  pomjj  to  the  temple  of  Juno, 
on  the  Esquiline  Hill,  and  placed  at  the  foot  of  the  goddess  the  flowers  with  which  their  heads 
were  crowned.  (0\id,  Fast.  iii.  205.)  In  the  evening,  in  order  to  commemorate  the  marks  of 
tenderness  which  the  Sabine  women  had  received  from  their  husbands,  they  remained  at  home 
richly  adorned,  waiting  for  the  gifts  of  their  husbands  and  relatives.  Tibullus  chose  this  day, 
on  which  custom  allowed  presents  to  be  offered  to  women,  to  send  his  books  to  his  beloved 
Neaera.    (Tib.,   Carm.  iii.  1.) 

^  In  gold  and  open  work,  with  coins  set  in  :  it  is  reduced  to  almost  half  size,  which  proves 
that  it  was  worn  on  the  upper  part  of  the  arm.  The  medals  are  of  the  third  century  of  our  era. 
(Cf.  Dictionary  of  Antiipiities,  p.  4:! 7.) 

^  Visconti's  Iconographie  Rotuaine.     (Seep.  143,  note  4.) 


TRADITIONAL    FIGURE 
OF    TATIUS.3 


} 

\ 


H 
M 
W 

a 
2; 


M 
o 


H 


o 
w 

Aw 

a 


TEADITIOXAL    IILSTOKY    OF   THE    KIXGS.  147 

Numa  Pompilius.  All  proclaimed  him  kiiiL;-;  Imt  lie  did  not  accept 
till  lie  had  obtained  favorable  sign.s  fruni  Heaven.  "  Led  l)y  the 
augur  to  the  summit  of  the  Tarpeian  Mount,  he  seated  himself  on 
a  stone  and  turned  towards  the  south.  The  augur,  with  his  head 
covered,  and  liolding  in  his  hand  the  lituus,  a  curved  stick  without 
a  knot  in  it,  cast  his  eyes  over  town  and  country,  praying  to  the 
gods  meanwhile ;  then  he  marked  out  a  space  in  the  heavens  from 
east  to  west,  declared  the  region  of  the 
south  to  be  the  right,  that  of  the  north  the 
left,  and  determined  the  extreme  point  of 
the  horizon  to  which  his  sight  could  reach. 
Then  he  took  the  lituus  in  his  left  hand, 
laid  his  right  on  the  head  of  Numa,  and 
said :  ''  0  Jupiter.  0  father !  If  it  be  good 
that  this  Numa  Pompilius,  whose  head  I 
hold,  reign  in  Rome,  show  me  certain  signs 
in  the  space  that  I  have  marked  out."  He  tkaditioxal  poktkait  op 
announced  the  omens  he  requu'ed,  and  when  m^ma  poiipiLitb. 

they    had    lieen    manifested,    Numa,    declared    king,  descended  from 
the  temiilum?' 

Numa  was  the  most  just  and  wise  of  men,  the  disciple  of 
Pythagoras.^  and  the  favorite  of  the  gods.  Inspired  by  the  Nymph 
Egeria,  whom  he  went  to  consult  by  night  in  the  solitude  of  the 
wood  of  the  Cameuae  or  Muses,*  he  arranged  the  religious  cere- 
monies, the  functions  of  the  four  pontiffs,  the  guardians  of  worship ; 
of  the  flamens,  the  ministers  of  the  greater  gods ;  of  the  augurs, 
the  interpreters  of  divine  will ;  of  the  fetiales,  who  prevented 
unjitst   wars ;    of   the    vestals    chosen    by  the   high   priest  from  the 

1  Visconti's  Iconograpliie  Romaine. 

-  Te.mptum  was  the  name  given  to  sacred  enclosures,  afterward  to  religious  edifices.  I 
liave  borrowed  tliese  details  from  Livy  (i.  18),  who  has  certainly  furnished  us  with  an  extract 
from  the  ritual,  and  shown  us  an  augur  at  his  duties.  The  aruspices  were  simply  diviners 
wlio  examined  the  entrails  of  victims ;  the_r  had  no  religious  character,  and  did  not  form  a 
college.     They  never  arrived  at  the  authority  and  consideration  that  the  augtirs  enjoyed. 

'  Tradition  says  so  ;  but  chronology  and  probability  are  opposed  to  the  idea.  Prthagoras 
li\cd  a  century  later  [than  the  traditional  date  of  Xuma]. 

■*  In  i)roof  of  this  the  Romans  still  show,  not  far  from  the  Capena  Rate,  the  grotto  ndiercin 
the  goddess  gave  sage  counsel  to  the  new  king.  This  grotto  was,  in  fact,  a  nymplirtfum  con- 
secrated to  some  water  divinity ;  but  Egeria  never  dwelt  there,  even  according  to  the  legenil. 
The  abode  assigned  to  her  by  the  ancients  was  in  the  wood  of  the  Camenae,  on  the  Caclius, 
where  from  a  dark  cave  came  a  fountain  that  never  dried  U]). 


148 


EOME   UNDER   THE   KIXGS. 


most  noble  families  to  keep  up  the  perpetual  fire,  the  Palladium,  and 
the  Penates ;  and  lastly  of  the  Salii,  who  guarded  the  shield  that 
had    fallen   from    heaven    (ancile)     and    celebrated     the    festival   of 


THE  EIGHT  COLUMNS  OF  THE  TEMPLE  OF  SATURN.  ^ 


the  God  of  War  by  songs  and  armed  dances.  He  forbade  bloody 
sacrifices,  the  representation  of  the  God  hy  images  of  wood,  bronze, 
or  stone,  and  paid  special  honors  to  Saturn,  the  father  of  Italian 
civilization,  the  king   of   the  golden    age,   of   the    times    of   virtue, 

1  Remains  of  a  temple  of  Saturn,  rebuilt  by  the  Emperor  Maxentius. 


TEADITIOXAL   HISTORY    OF   THE    KINGS. 


149 


plenty,    and    equality,    whose    festival,    a    day    of    mad    joy    and 
liberty  even  for   the   slave,  suspended   hostilities   on    the   frontiers 


HEADS    OF    THE    DH    PENATES.'  SALIAN    PRIEST.' 


AXCILI.i.^ 


and  the  execution  of  criminals  in  the  city.*  In  later  times  the 
temple  of  this  god  was  a  kind  of  state  sanctuary.  The  public 
treasure  was  preserved  there,  with  the  official  documents  and  the 
ensims  of  the  leajions. 

That  each  might  live  in  peace  on  his  farm,  Xuma  distrib- 
uted among  the  people  the  lands  conquered  by  Romulus,  raised 
a  temple  to  Good  Faith  on  the  Capitol,  and  consecrated  the 
hmits  of  property  (festival  of  the  Terminalia)  by  devoting  to 
the  Q-ods  of  the  infernal  res-ions  those  who  should  remove  the 
boimdaries  of  the  fields.  He  moreover  divided  the 
poor  into  guilds  of  craftsmen,  and  built  the  temple 
of  Janus,  the  open  gates  of  which  announced  war,  L»; 
the  closing  of  them  peace.  It  was  needful  that  ^C/^ 
during  war  time  the  god  should  leave  his  temple 
to  protect  the  young  warriors  of  Rome ;  peace 
rendered  this  aid  useless.  Under  Numa  "  the  neighboring  towns 
seem  to  have  breathed  the  healtliful  breath  of  a  soft,  pure  wind, 
that  blew  from  the  side  where  Rome  lay,"  and  the  temple  of  Janus 
always  remained  closed.® 


1  DEI    PEXATES.     Coupled  heads  of  the  Penates.     Silver  coin  of  Antian  familv. 
-  AVGVST.  Dm   F.    LVDOS   SAE.     SaUan  priest.     Silver  coin  of  the  family  San- 
(piinia,  commemorative  of  the  secular  games. 

'  The  ancilia ;  reverse  of  a  bronze  of  Antoninus. 

*  The  Saturnalia  legally  lasted  one  day  in  ancient  times,  three  in  last  centuries  of  the 
Kepublic,  and  five  under  the  Empire  ;  but  seven  were  often  taken.  During  these  feasts,  which 
in  certain  customs  recall  our  old  carnival,  oflicial  life  was  suspended  and  the  tribunals  closed. 
Cf.  ilacr.,  Sat.  I.  passim. 

^  J(ino  Patri.  Janus  standing,  holding  a  patera  and  a  sceptre.  Aureus,  or  gold  piece 
of  GalUenus. 

*  With  the  worship  of  Janus  was  perhaps  connected  the  vague  notion  of  a  supreme  god, 
who  was  both  sun  and  moon,  the  beginning  and  end  of  all  things,  the  creator  of  the  world  and 
arbiter  of  battles.     The  old  deity  was  successively  despoiled  of  his  warhke  attributes  in  favor 


150 


KOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


•  Beyond  these  works  of   peace,  tradition  ]\:nows  nothing  of    the 
second    King  of   Rome,  and  remains  silent  on   the  subject  of  this 

long  reign  of  forty-three  years. 
He  himself  had  recommended  the 
worship  of  silence,  the  goddess 
Tacita.  At  his  death  Diana 
changed  Egeria  into  a  fountain, 
and  the  spring  still  flows  at  the 
place  which  was  the  sacred  wood 
of  the  Camenae.  Near  the  tomb  of  Numa,  dug  at  the  foot  of 
the  Janiculum,  were  Ijuried  his  books,  which  contained  all  the 
prescriptions  to  be  followed  to  ensure  the  accomplishment  of  the 
rites  so  as  to  gain  certain  favor  from  the  gods.  Being  recovered 
at  an  epoch  when  Greek  idolatry  had  replaced  the  old  religion, 
these  books  were  judged  dangerous,  and  were  burned  by  order  of 
the  Senate.^ 


I 


COI>'    OF    THE    MARCII.l 


III.  — TuLLus  HosTiLius  (673-640). 

To  the  pious  and  pacific  prince  there  succeeds  the  sacrilegious 
warrior  king ;  after  Numa,  TuUus  Hostilius.  The  Sabiues,  in 
consequence  of  the  agreement  made  between  the  two  nations 
about  the  election  of  Numa,  chose  him  among  the  Romans, 
as  the  latter,  after  Tullus,  name  the  Sabine  Ancus.  Romulus 
was  the    son    of    a   god,   Numa,  the    husband    of   a   goddess;    with 


Tullus  begins  the  reign  of  men. 


He  was  grandson  of  a  Latin  of 


of  ilars,  an  old  jrod  of  the  field  (Cato,  dc  Be  rusl.  141,  and  Saint  Augustine,  de  Civ.  Dei,  ii. 
17),  and  of  his  supreme  majesty  in  favor  of  Jupiter.  In  the  Fasti  (i.  101,  117  seq.)  Ovid 
makes  him  say  :  — 

"  Me  Chaos  antiqui,  nam  sura  res  prisca,  Tocabant  .  .  - 

QuiJquid  ubique  vides,  caelum,  mare,  niibila,  terras, 

Omnia  sunt  nostra  clausa  patentque  manu." 

1  This  coin  of  the  INIarcii,  who  asserted  their  descent  from  the  fourth  King  of  Rome, 
himself  said  to  be  the  grandson  of  Numa,  gives  the  traditional  features  of  these  princes.  On 
the  reverse  are  two  arcades :  under  the  first  stands  victory  on  a  eoluuui,  under  the  second  the 
crescent  moon  and  the  prow  of  a  vessel,  another  souvenir  of  the  port  of  Ostia  built  by  Ancus 
and  of  his  success  over  the  Latins.  We  see  the  custom  the  Romans  had  of  recalling\)n  their 
coins  the  facts  of  their  annals,  and  the  interest  that  these  coins  offer  from  the  double  point  of 
view  of  lustory  and  art. 

-  The  fact  is  reported  by  Dionysius,  Livy,  and  Cicero.  We  shall  see  at  the  right  place 
what  to  believe  about  this  pretended  discovery  of  the  books  of  Numa  made  in  the  year  181  B.C., 
which  was  a  pious  fraud. 


o 


TILIDITIOXAL   IIISTOUY   OF   THE   KES'GS.  151 

Mediillia,  who  had  fought  valiantly  under  Romulus  against  the 
Sabines.  Tullus  loved  the  poor,  distributed  lands  among  them, 
and  went  to  live  among  them  himself  on  Mount  Caelius,  -where 
he   established    the    conquered   Albans. 

Let  us  hear  Livy  relating  the  ancient  legend ;  although  no 
translation  can  convey  the  brilliancj-  of  his  narrative.  Alba,  tlie 
mother  of  Rome,  had  l)y  slow  degrees  become  a  stranger  to 
her  colony,  and  mutual  incursions  brought  on  a  war.  Long  the 
two  armies  remained  face  to  face,  w'ithout  daring  to  commence 
the  sacrilegious  sti'ife.  "As  there  were  found  in  each  of  the 
two  nations  three  twin  brothers,  of  uearlj"  the  same  strength  and 
age.  the  Horatii  and  Curiatii,  Tullus  and  the  dictator  of  Alba 
rharged  them  to  tight  for  their  country ;  the  supremacy  should 
belong  to  the  victors.  The  convention  that  was  made  was  this. 
The  fetialis,  addressing  Tullus,  said :  '  King,  dost  thou  bid  me 
conclude  a  treaty  with  the  pater  jpatratas  of  the  Alban  people  ? ' 
And  on  an  affirmative  answer  being  given,  he  added  :  •  I 
demand  of  thee  the  sacred  herb.'  '  Take  it  pure,'  replied  Tullus. 
Then  the  fetialis  brought  the  pure  herlj  from  the  citadel,  and 
addressing  Tullus  anew :  '  King,  dost  thou  name  me  interpreter 
of  thy  royal  wall  and  that  of  the  Roman  people,  descended  from 
Quirinus  ?  Dost  thou  approve  of  the  sacred  vessels,  and  the  men 
who  accompany  me  ? '  '  Yes,'  replied  the  King,  '  without  prejudice 
to  my  right  and  that  of  the  Roman  people.'  The  fetialis  was  M. 
Valerius ;  he  made  Sp.  Fusius  pater  patratus  of  the  Albans,  by 
touching  him  on  the  head  and  hair  with  vervam.  The  pater 
patratus  took  the  oath,  and  sanctioned  the  treaty  by  pronouncing 
the  necessary  formulae.  When  the  conditions  had  been  read,  the 
fetialis  continued :  '  Hear,  Jupiter,  hear,  father  patratus  of  the 
Alban  people ;  hear,  too,  Alban  people.  The  Roman  people  will 
never  be  the  first  to  violate  the  conditions  inscribed  on  these 
tablets,  which  have  just  been  read  to  you, — from  the  first  line 
to  the  last  without  fraud  or  falsehood.  From  this  day  they 
are  clearly  understood  by  all.  If  it  should  happen  that  by 
public  deliberation  or  unworthy  subterfuge  the  Roman  people 
infringe  them  first,  then,  great  Jupiter,  strike  it  as  I  strike 
this  swine,  and  strike  with  more  severity,  as  thy  power  is  greater.' 
When  the  imprecation   was  ended,  he  broke   the   skull  of   the  pig 


152  EOME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

with    a    stone.     The    Albans,    by   the   month    of    the    Dictator   and 
priests,  repeated  the  same  formulae  and  pronounced  the  same  oath. 

"  When  the  treaty  was  concluded,  the  three  brothers  on  each  ij 
side  take  their  arms.  The  cheers  of  their  fellow  citizens  animate 
them ;  the  Gods  of  their  country,  and  even,  so  it  seems  to  them, 
their  country  itself,  have  their  eyes  fixed  upon  them.  Burning  with 
courage,  intoxicated  with  the  sound  of  so  many  voices  exhorting 
them,  they  advance  between  the  two  armies,  who,  though  ex- 
empt from  peril,  were  not  so  from  fear ;  for  it  was  a  matter  of 
empire  depending  on  the  valor  and  fortune  of  so  small  a  num- 
ber  of    champions. 

"  The  signal  being  given,  the  six  champions  sprmg  forward 
sword  in  hand,  and  bearing  in  their  hearts  the  courage  of 
two  great  nations.  Heedless  of  their  own  danger,  they  only 
keep  before  their  eyes  triumph  or  slavery,  and  the  future  of 
their  country,  whose  destiny  depends  upon  their  acts.  At 
the  first  shock,  when  the  clash  of  arms  was  heard  and  the 
swords  were  seen  flashing,  a  deep  horrou  seized  the  spectators. 
Anxious  exjiectatiou  froze  their  utterance  and  suspended  their 
breath.  Still  the  combatants  fight  on  ;  the  blows  are  no  longer 
uncertain,  there  are  wounds  and  blood.  Of  the  three  Romans  two 
fall  dead.  The  Alban  army  utters  shouts  of  joy,  and  the  Romans 
fix  looks  of  despair  on  the  last  of  the  Horatii,  whom  the  Curiatii 
are  already  surrounding.  But  these  are  all  three  wounded, 
and  the  Roman  is  unhurt.  Not  strong  enough  for  his  enemies 
united,  yet  more  than  a  match  for  each  separately,  he  takes  to 
flight,  sure  that  each  will  follow  him  according  to  the  degree 
of  strength  he  has  left.  When  he  had  gone  some  distance  from 
the  scene  of  combat,  he  turned,  and  saw  his  adversaries  following 
him  at  unequal  distances,  one  alone  pressing  rather  close  upon 
him. 

"  Quickly  he  turns,  darts  on  him  with  fury,  and  while  the 
Albans  are  calling  on  the  Curiatii  to  help  their  brother,  Horatius, 
already  victorious,  hastens  to  his  second  combat.  Then  arose 
from  the  midst  of  the  Roman  army  a  cry  of  unexpected  joy; 
the  warrior  gathers  strength  from  the  voice  of  his  people,  and  . 
without  giving  the  last  Curiatius  time  to  apj)roacli,  he  puts  an 
end  to  the  second.     There  remained  only  two  ;  but  having  neither 


tkai)ltiu>;al  histuky  of  the  kings.  153 

the  same  confidence  noi-  the  same  strength  :  the  one  imwoundocl, 
proud  of  a  double  victory,  and  advancing  with  confidence  to  a 
third  combat ;  the  other  exhausted  by  the  blood  he  had  lost 
and  by  the  distance  he  had  run,  hardly  able  to  drag  himself 
along,  and  conquered  beforehand  by  the  death  of  hi.s  brothers. 
There  was  hardly  a  struggle.  The  Roman,  transported  with  joy, 
cries  out :  '  I  have  just  sacrificed  two  to  the  manes-  of  my 
l)rothers ;  I  sacrifice  this  one  that  Rome  may  have  rule  over 
the  Albans.'  Curiatius  could  scarcely  support  his  arms  ;  Horatius 
[ilunged  his  sword  into  his  throat,  threw  him  to  the  ground, 
and  despoiled  him  of  his  arms.  The  Romans  surround  the  victor 
and  cover  him  with  praises,  all  the  more  delighted  because  they  had 
at  first  trembled.  Each  of  the  two  peoples  then  turned  to  bury- 
ing its  dead,  but  with  very  different  feelings.  The  one  had 
won  empire,  the  other  had  passed  imder  foreign  rule.  The  tombs 
of  these  warriors^  are  still  seen  at  the  spot  where  they  each 
fell ;  the  two  Romans  together  and  nearer  Alba ;  the  three 
Albans  on  the  side  next  Rome,  at  some  distance  from  one 
another,    according    as    they   had   fought. 

"  Then  by  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  Mettius  asked  Tullus  what  is 
his  will.  '  That  thou  hold  the  Alban  youth  under  arms,"  answered 
the  King.  '  and  I  will  employ  them  against  the  Veientines  if  I 
make  war  on  them.'  The  two  armies  returned  home,  and  Horatius, 
loaded  with  his  triple  trophy,  marched  at  the  head  of  the  legions, 
when  near  the  Porta  Capena  he  met  his  sister,  who  was  betrothed 
to  one  of  the  Curiatii.  She  recognized  on  her  brother's  shoulders 
her  lover's  tunic,  which  she  herself  had  woven,  and  her  sobs  burst 
forth ;  she  asks  for  her  husband,  she  utters  his  name  in  a  voice 
choked  with  tears.  Angry  at  seemg  a  sister's  tears  insult  his 
triumph  and  the  joy  of  Rome,  Horatius  draws  his  sword  and  stabs 
the  girl,  overwhelming  her  with  imprecations.  'Go  Avith  thy  mad 
love,'  says  he,  •  go  and  rejoin  thy  betrothed,  thou  who  forgottest 
thy  dead  brothers,  and  him  who  remains,  and  thy  countr3^  So 
perish  every  Roman  woman  who  shall  dare  to  weep  the  death  of 
an  enemy.'     This  murder  caused  a  profound  sensation  in  the  Senate 

'  If  this  combat  evtr  did  take  plaoe.  the  Horatii  must  have  fallen  at  that  spot ;  and  the 
tumuli  seen  there,  which  recall  the  sepulchral  buildings  of  Etruria,  perhaps  covered  their 
hones.     The  Romans  at  least  thought  so. 


154  ROME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

and  among  the  people,  though  the  brilliant  exploit  of  the  murderer 
took  from  the  horror  of  his  crime.  He  is  led  before  the  King, 
that  justice  may  be  done.  TuUus,  fearing  to  become  responsible 
for  a  sentence,  the  severity  of  which  would  raise  in  revolt  the 
multitude,  calls  the  people  together  and  says :  '  I  name  duumvirs,^ 
according  to  the  law,  to  judge  the  crime  of  Horatius.'  The 
law  was  fearfully  severe.  '  Let  the  duumvirs  (it  ran)  judge  the 
crime ;  if  the  judgment  is  appealed  from,  let  the  appeal  be  pro- 
nounced upon ;  if  the  sentence  is  confii'med,  let  the  head  of  the 
condemned  be  covered,  let  him  be  hanged  on  the  fatal  tree  and 
beaten  with  rods  within  or  without  the  circuit  of  the  walls.'  The 
duumvirs  immediately  take  their  seats ;  '  P.  Horatius,'  says  one 
of  them,  '  I  declare  that  thou  hast  merited  death.  Go,  lictor, 
bind  liis  hands  !  '  The  lictor  approaches ;  already  he  was  passing 
the  cord  round  him,  when  by  the  advice  of  Tullus,  a  merciful 
interpreter  of  the  law,  Horatius  cries,  '  I  appeal ! '  and  the  case 
was  referred  to  the  people.  Then  the  elder  Horatius  was  heard 
crying  that  the  death  of  his  daughter  was  just ;  otherwise  he  liim- 
self,  in  Aai'tue  of  his  paternal  authority,  would  have  been  the  first 
to  punish  his  son ;  and  he  besought  the  Romans,  who  on  the 
j^receding  day  had  seen  him  father  of  so  fine  a  family,  not  to 
deprive  him  of  all  his  children.  Then,  embracing  his  son,  and 
showing  the  people  the  spoils  of  Curiatii,  hung  up  in  the 
place  called  to  this  day  the  Pillar  of  Horatius :  '  Romans,'  said 
he,  '  the  man  Avhom  you  saw  with  admiration  so  lately  marching 
in  the  midst  of  you,  triumphant,  and  bearing  illustrious  spoils, 
Avill  you  see  him  tied  to  the  degrading  post,  beaten  with  rods,  and 
put  to  death  ?  The  Albans  thepaselves  could  not  endure  such  a 
spectacle.  Go,  lictor,  bind  those  hands  which  have  just  given  us 
empii-e !  Go,  cover  with  a  veil  the  head  of  the  liberator  of  Rome ; 
hang  him  on  the  fatal  tree  ;  strike  him  within  the  town,  if  thou 
wilt,  but  in  presence  of  these  trophies  and  spoils  ;  without  the  town, 
but  in  the  midst  of  the  tombs  of  the  Curiatii.  Into  what  place 
can  you  lead  him  where  the  monuments  of  his  glory  do  not  pro- 
test against  the  horror  of  his  punishment  ? '  The  citizens,  conquered 
by  the  tears  of  the  father  and  the  intrepidity  of  the  son,  pro- 
nounced the  absolution  of  the  guilty  ;  and  this  grace  was  accorded 

1  Duumviri penluellionis  (Livy,  i.  26  ;  cf.  Lange,  Roinische  AllerthUiner,  i.  328,  seq.'). 


o 

a 

a 

a 

H 


TRADITIONAL   HISTORY   OF   THE    KINGS.  155 

liim  ratlior  for  their  admiration  of  his  courage  tlian  for  tlie  good- 
ness of  his  cause.  In  order,  however,  that  so  glaring  a  crime 
should  not  remain  without  expiation,  they  obliged  the  father  to 
redeem  his  son  by  paying  a  fine.  After  some  expiatory  sacrifices, 
whereof  the  family  of  the  Horatii  since  preserved  the  tradition, 
the  old  man  placed  a  post  across  the  middle  of  the  street,  a  kind 
of  yoke,  under  which  he  made  his  son  pass  with  veiled  head.  This 
post,  preserved  and  kept  in  perpetuity  by  the  care  of  the  Republic, 
exists  to  this  day.     It  is  called  the  Sister's  Post.  "  ^ 

Did  this  combat,  twice  consecrated,  once  by  the  great  historian 
of  Rome,  again  by  the  masculine  genius  of  Corneille,  ever  take 
place  ?  We  may  doubt  it ;  but  at  Rome  every  one  believed  it,  and 
for  centuries  there  existed  proofs  of  it  which  appeared  irrefutable : 
the  Sister's  Post,  the  Cluilian  ditch,^  the  tomlis  of  the  Horatii,  the 
expiatory  sacrifices  renewed  every  year  by  their  House  to  appease 
the  manes  of  a  beloved  victim.  All  this  compels  us  to  admit  that 
there  is  at  lea.st  hidden  under  the  ornament  of  epic  narration,  em- 
bellished by  popular  poetry  and  by  the  pride  of  the  gens  Horatia, 
some  actual  fact.  Legend  is  often  wrong  as  regards  the  exploits 
whicli  it  relates :  it  is  nearly  always  right  about  the  manners 
and  institutions  whicli  it  reveals ;  and  it  is  in  order  to  show  this 
portion  of  truth  that  we  have  given  this  long  narration. 

Alba  had  submitted  ;  but  in  a  battle  against  the  Fidenates, 
whom  the  Veientines  aided,  the  dictator  of  the  Albans,  Mettius 
Fuffetius,  stood  aloof  with  his  troops,  awaiting  the  issue  of  the 
combat.  Tullus  invoked  Pallor  and  Terror,  promising  them  a 
temple  if  they  spread  fear  among  the  enemy's  ranks  ;  then,  jjeing 
victorious,  he  said  to  the  traitor :  "  Thy  heart  is  divided  between 
me  and  my  enemies :  so  shall  it  be  with  thy  body ; "  and  they 
bound  him  to  two  chariots,  which  were  driven  in  opposite  directions. 
Then  Alba  was  destroyed,  its  population  transferred  to  Rome  on 
Mount  Caelius,  its  patricians  admitted  to  the  Senate,  and  its  rich 
men   among   the    knights.^     Rome  inherited  the  ancient   legends  of 

1  Livy,  i.  24-26. 

-  The  foitsia  Ctuilia  was  supposed  to  be  the  trench  of  the  camp  in  which  Chiilius,  kin;; 
of  Alba,  had  entrenched  himself  in  the  war  against  TuUus.  He  must  have  died  there,  and 
have  been  replaced  by  the  dictator,  Mettius  Fuffetius. 

^  Livy,  i.  30.  Eqidtum  decern  tunnas  ex  Albanis  legit.  Each  turma  consisted  of  thirty 
men.     Cf.  Fest.   s.  v. 


156      •  EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

Alba,  tlie  family  of  Julii,  whence  Caesar  sprang,  'and  its  rights  as 
metropolis  of  several  Latin  towns.     Six  centuries  later,  the  Hostilii, 

who  claimed  descent  from  the  thii'd 
King  of  Rome,  had  represented  on  their 
coins  the  two  dread  divinities,  whom 
their  ancestor,  said  they,  had  invoked. 
Tidlus  again  fought  successfully 
against  the  babmes  and  the  Veien- 
tines,  whose  town  he  besieged.  But  he  neglected  the  service  of 
the  gods,  and  their  anger  brought  on  Rome  a  contagious  disease 
which  attacked  tlie  King  himself.  Like  Romulus,  he  came  to  a 
mysterious  and  tragic  end.  He  thought  he  had  found  in  Numa's 
books  a  means  of  expiation,  and  the  secret  of  forcing  revelations 
from  Jupiter  Elicius.^  A  mistake  made  in  these  dread  adjurations 
drew  down  lightning  upon  him,  and  the  flame  devoured  his  body 
and  his  palace  (640  B.  c.).^  "  He,"  says  Livy,  "  who  had  hitherto 
considered  it  unworthy  of  a  king  to  occupy  himself  with  sacred 
things,  became  the  prey  of  every  superstition,  and  filled  the  city 
with  religious  practices."  An  old  story,  ever  new !  A  more  prosaic 
account  says  he  was  slain  by  Ancus.* 

IV.   Ancus  Maecius  (640-616). 

The  reign  of  Ancus,  who  was  said  to  be  the  grandson  of 
Numa,  has  not  the  poetic  brilliancy  of  that  of  Tullus.  After  the 
example  of  his  ancestor,  he  encouraged  agriculture,  re-established 
neglected  religion,  caused  the  laws  regulating  ceremonial  to  be 
inscribed  on  tables  ®  and  exposed  in  the  Forum ;  but  he  could  not, 
like  Numa,  keep  the  temple  of  Janus  shut,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  lay  aside  the  service  of  the  gods  in  order  to  talve  up  arms. 
The  Latins  had  just  broken  the  alliance  concluded  with  Tullus. 
Four   of  their   towns    were    taken ;    their    inhabitants    settled  upon 


*  Silver  coin  of  L.  llostilitis  Saserna. 

-  The  priests  of  Jupiter  Elicius  claimed  the  power  of  making  the  thunder  faU  ;  and 
they  were  thought  to  be  able  to  do  so.  (Pliny,  Nnl.  Hist.  ii.  4,  and  xxvii.  4.)  They  kept 
this  secret  so  well,  that  the   world  had  to  wait  for  Franklin  to  discover  it  again. 

8  Livy,  i.  31. 

^  Dionys.  iii.  35. 

6  Livy,  1.  32;  Dionys.  iii.  3G. 


TRADITIONAL  HISTOEY   OF  THE  KINGS. 


157 


the  Aventine,^  and  the  territory  of  Rome  extended  as  far  as  the 
sea.  Ancus  foiind  brme-pits,  which  are  still  there,  and  forests, 
which  are  gone ;  he  appropriated  the  revenue  of  them  for  the 
royal  treasury.^  At  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber 
there  was  a  favorable  site  for  a  port ;  he 
there  founded  Ostia  (the  mouths),  which  is 
now  a  league  from  the  sea.  He  built  the 
first  bridge  over  the  Tiber  {pons  Sublicius),^ 
making  it  of  wood,  that  it  might  be  easily 
broken  down  if  the  enemy  wished  to  make 
use  of  it ;  and  he  defended  the  approach 
by  a  fortress  over  the  Janiculum.  To  pro- 
tect the  dwellings  of  the  new  colonists  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  river,  he  traced  the  ditch 
of  the  Qui  rites ;  and  in  order  to  deter  from 

crimes,  which  had  become  numerous  with  the  increase  of  popula- 
tion, he  dug  in  the  tufo  of  the  Capitoline  the  famous  Mamertine 
prison,  which  may  still  be  seen,  and  which  was  led  up  to  by 
the  steps  of  the  Gemoniae,  or  "  Stair  of  Sighs."  His  reign  of 
twenty-four  years,  according  to  Livy,  of  twenty-three  by  Cicero's 
account,  finished  tranquilly,  like  that  of  Numa ;  and  the  Romans 
always  honored  the  memory  of  the  prince,  wise  and  just  in  peace, 
brave  and  victorious  in  war.* 


TKADITIONAL    PORTRAIT   OP 
ANCUS    MARCH'S. 


V.   Tarquin  the  Elder  (616-578). 

In  the  reign  of  Ancus,  a  stranger  had  come  to  settle  at  Rome.^ 
He  was  said  to  be  the  son  of  the  Corinthian  Demaratus,  a 
rich  merchant  of  the  family  of  the  Bacchiads,  who,  fleeing  from 
the  tyranny  of  Cypselus,  had  retreated  to  Tarquinii.  In  Etruria, 
all  hope  of  power  was   forbidden  to  the  stranger.      But    Tanaquil® 

'  Cicero,  de  Hep.  ii.  18;  Livy,  i.  33. 

'  Aurel.  Vict,  de  Vir.  ill.  .'j. 

^  From  suhlica,  a  pile.     Festus.  s.  v.  Siilih'cliim. 

*  He  is  said  to  have  carried  on  seven  wars,  against  the  Latins,  Fidenates,  Sabines, 
Veientines,  and  Volscians. 

^  Schweglcr  (^Riim.  Gesck.  i.  G77)  makes  the  Tarqiiins  an  ancient  IJoman  ijcnx. 

^  Others  say  liis  wife  was  Gaia  Caecilia.  the  good  spinner  and  beneficent  enchantress, 
to  whom  the  young  brides  paid  honor.     (PUny,  Hist.  Nat.  viii.  7-1.) 


158     .  HOME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

had  read  in  the  future  the  fortunes  of  her  husband.  He  came  to 
Rome  with  hi.s  wealth  and  numerous  attendants.  On  the  road  the 
forecasts  of  his  future  gi-eatness  were  renewed.  The  Romans  were 
not  joarticular  in  tlie  matter  of  omens ;  they  admitted  all  that  were 
told  to  them,  and  Livy  gravely  repeats  the  nursery  tales  which 
tradition  transmitted  to  him.  We  must  repeat  them  after  him, 
because  they  show  us  the  mental  condition  of  the  nation,  which 
had  no  imagination  except  for  this  kind  of  things,  and  because  they 
teach  us  how  the  aruspices  analyzed  a  sign.  "As  Tarquin 
appi'oaches  the  Janiculum,  an  eagle  slowly  descends  from  the 
high  heavens  and  carries  oE  his  cap ;  then  hovers  al^out  the 
car  with  loud  screeching,  swoops  down  afresh,  and  replaces  it  on 
the  traveller's  head.  At  this  sight  Tanaquil.  versed  in  the  art 
of  augury,  embraces  her  husband  with  delight.  She  tells  him  to 
consider  well  the  kind  of  bird,  the  part  of  heaven  whence  it 
came,  and  the  god  who  sends  it.  Another  manifest  sign  was  that 
the  prodigy  was  accomplished  on  the  highest  part  of  the  liody ; 
the  ornament  which  covered  his  head  was  only  raised  an  instant, 
to  be  replaced  on  it  immediately.  The  gods,  then,  promise  him 
the  highest  fortune."  Tarquin  accepted  the  omen;  but  at  the 
same  time  helped  himself.  At  Rome  he  gained  by  his  wisdom  the 
confidence  of  Ancus,  who  left  to  him  the  guardianship  of  his  sons ; 
and  Ijy  his  worth  and  his  kindness  towards  them  he  won  the  affec- 
tion of  the  people,  who  proclaimed  him  king,  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  sons  of  the  old  prince. 

The  new  King  embellished  Rome,  enlarged  its  territory,  and 
undertook  the  encircling  of  the  town  with  a  wall,  which  was  finished 
by  Servius.  The  Forum,  drained  and  surrounded  by  porticos,  was 
used  for  the  gatherings  and  pleasures  of  the  2:ieople.  The  Capitol 
was  begun,  and  the  Circus  levelled,  for  the  shows  and  Great 
Games  brought  from  Etruria.  But  the  most  consideraljle  of  these 
works  were  the  subterranean  sewers,  which  to  the  present  day  sup- 
port a  great  part  of  Rome,  notAvithstanding  earthquakes,  and  in 
spite  of  the  weight  of  edifices  a  hundred  times  rebuilt  over  their 
vaulting.^     For  such  works,  which  have  not  the  majestic  uselessness 

^  In  consefjuenee  of  the  raising  of  tlio  bed  of  the  Tiber,  perhaps  also  of  tlie  height  of  waters  at 
the  time  when  tlie  drawing  was  taken,  only  the  top  of  the  sewer  is  seen  in  our  engraving  on  page 
160.     This  construction  astonished  the  contemporaries  of  Augustus  by  its  size  and  the  amount 


TRADITIONAL  HISTORY   OF  THE  KINGS.  159 

of  the  Egyptian  constructions,  it  must  have  been  necessary  to  subject 
the  people  to  wearisome  drudgery,  and  the  treasury  to  hea-vy  ex- 
pense. For  the  latter,  however,  Tarquin  was  able  to  provide,  with 
the  spoils  taken  from  the  Latins  and  Sabines  in  his  successful  wars 
which  made  him  master  of  the  lands  lying  between  the  Tiber,  the 
Anio,  and  the  Sabine  mountains,  known  as  the  territory  of  Collatia. 
Livy,  in  relating  the  story  of  this  conquest,  has  preserved  to  us  the 
formula  employed  by  the  Romans  in  all  capitulations  of  cities : 
'■  Tarquin,  addressing  the  deputies,  asked  them :  '  Are  you  the 
deputies  sent  l^y  the  CoUatian  people  to  put  yourselves  and  the 
people  of  Collatia  in  my  power  ? '  '  We  are.'  — '  Are  the  people  of 
Collatia  free  to  dispose  of  themselves  ? '  '  They  are.'  — '  Do  you 
surrender,  to  me  and  to  the  Roman  people,  yourselves,  the  people  of 
Collatia,  the  city  and  the  fields,  the  waters,  the  boundaries,  the 
temples,  the  movable  property,  and  all  things  divine  and  human 
therein  contained  ? '  '  We  do.'  — '  I  accept  them,  m  my  own  name 
and  in  that  of  the  Roman  people.'  " 

Livy  makes  no  mention  of  wars  carried  on  by  Tarquin  against 
the  Etruscans ;  but  his  contemporary,  Dionysius  of  Halicamassus, 
has  much  to  say  upon  that  sul^ject.  This  rhetorician,  who  en- 
deavored to  be  a  historian,  lends  a  ready  ear,  in  his  Roman  Archce- 
ologij,  to  all  the  fables  tradition  offers  him ;  and  tradition  was  eager 
to  make  out  that  this  Etruscan  king,  to  justify  his  Roman  royalty, 
had  carried  on  victorious  wars  agamst  his  former  countrymen. 
According  to  Dionysius,  the  conquered  Etruscans  sent  Tarquin,  in 
token  of  their  submission,  the  twelve  fasces,  the  crown,  the  sceptre 
surmounted  by  the  royal  eagle,  the  curule  chair,  and  the  purple  robe. 
This  victory  is  more  than  doubtful ;  and  the  gift,  if  it  was  ever 
made,  does  not  at  all  indicate  the  submission  of  those  offering  it. 
Rome,  in  later  days,  gave  things  like  these  to  the  kings  entering 
into  alliance  with  her,  —  compensating  them  thus  at  small  expense 
for  their  aid  in  war,  or  for  their  splendid  presents  made  to  her. 

Tarquin  was  the  first  to  celebrate  the  Roman  triumph,  display- 
ing a  pomp  till  then  imknown ;  his  robe  being  embroidered  with 

tliat  it  bad  cost.  "  Three  things,"  said  Dionysius  of  Hah<-arnassus,  "  reveal  the  magnificence 
of  Rome,  —  '■  the  aqueducts,  tlie  roads,  and  tlie  sewers."  Nearly  over  the  mouth  of  the  Cloaca 
stands  the  little  rotunda  known  as  the  temple  of  the  Sun,  disfigured  by  an  abominable  roof, 
with  which  it  has  been  covered  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  its  nineteen  fluted  Corinthian  col- 
umns of  Carrara  marble,  —  a  construction  probably  belonging  to  the  period  of  the  Antonines. 


160  ROME    UKDEE   THE  lOINGS. 

golden  flowers,  and  his  chariot  drawn  by  four  white  horses.  Prom 
his  reign  dates  the  introduction  into  Rome  of  Etruscan  costumes, 
the  royal  robe,  the  war-mantle,  the  toga  praetexta,  and  the  tunica 
palmata,  worn  by  tlie  victorious  general  at  his  triumpli ;  and  to  his 
time  belong  the  twelve  lictors  and  the  curule  chair,  —  an  ivory  seat 
whose  material  the  Etruscans  obtained  from  Asia  or  Africa.  Tar- 
quin  made  an  attempt  to  change  the  constitution ;  but,  notwith- 
standing liis  popularity,  he  did  not  succeed 
in  re-arranging  the  tribes.  The  patricians 
who  ojipost'd  liim  made  religion  speak  by 
the  mouth  of  tlie  augur,  Attus  Navius. 
if  j  /  I  I  Tliis  personage  maintained  his  opposition 
to  the  King  by  aid  of  a  miracle.  "  Augur," 
said  Tarquin,  hoping  to  bring  him  to  con- 
-*■  fusion,   "can   the  thing  be  done  which  I 

iiow    have   in    mind?"     The    augur    con- 
MiRACLE  OF  NAvius.>  ^^^^^^^   ^j^^  hcaveus,  aud  declared  that  it 

could.  Tarquin  presented  him  with  a  razor  and  a  whetstone,  say- 
ing :  "  Cut  this  stone,  then,  with  this  knife."  Attus  cut  the  stone 
through  with  the  knife ;  and  to  keep  the  event  fresh  in  the  minds 
of  the  people,  the  razor  and  the  stone  were  preserved  under  an 
altar,  and  a  statue  of  Navius  erected  beside  it,  — -  a  figure  with  veiled 
head  in  the  attitude  assumed  l)y  the  augurs  when  awaiting  the 
revelation  of  the  divine  will.  The  popular  faith  had  no  difficulty 
in  accepting  a  legend  which  grew  up  about  the  cut  stone,  and  the 
college  of  aiigurs,  naturally  considering  it  historic  truth,  erected 
the  statue  to  consecrate  it. 

Tarquin  had  reigned  for  thirty  or  forty  years  with  great  renown 
in  peace  and  war,  when  one  day  two  shepherds,  suborned  by  the 
sons  of  Ancus,  presented  themselves  before  the  King,  praying  him 
to  settle  a  dispute  which  had  arisen  between  them.  The  King 
listened  to  them ;  and  while  one  was  engrossing  his  attention,  the 
other  suddenly  struck  liim  a  mortal  blow  on  the  head  with  an 
axe.  Upon  this,  Tanaquil  at  once  closed  the  palace  doors,  and  gave 
out  word  to  the  people  that  the  King  was  not  dead,  but  merely 
wounded,  and  that  meantime  he  had  deputed  his  son-in-law  Servius 

^  The  aiicriir  Navius,  on  his  knees,  cutting  a  stone  ;  Tarquin  standing  before  biiu  ;  beliind 
the  King  another  stone.     Bronze  of  Antoninus. 


i^.  L:i:.-i'.t!r,r 


lll'I'M lilH||lllNllilimilll 


TRADITIONAL  HISTORY  OF  THE   KINGS. 


161 


to  reign  in  his  stead.      For  several  days  she  concealed  his  death, 

and    when    it    was    known,    Servius    became  king    without    being 

accepted  by  the  assembly  of  the  Curiae,  but  with  the  consent  of 
the  Senate  (578  b.  c). 


VI.  —  Servius  Tullius  (578-534). 

His  origin  was  surrounded  with  mystery.  Some  said  he  was 
the  son  of  a  female  slave  ^  or  of  the  prince  of  Corniculum,  who 
was    killed    in    a  war  against    the  Romans ;    others  related    how   a 


0T(     *'^>fej^_-^^fei^ 


AGGER    OR    RA5IPART    OF    SEHVIUS 


-^i^^J^^i^ 


genius  had  appeared  in  the  flame  of  the  hearth  to  Ocrisia,  a 
servant  of  Queen  Tanaquil,  and  that  at  the  same  instant  she  had 
conceived.      After   his    birth    the    gods    continued    their   favors    to 

'  Independentlv  of  the  Saturnalia,  slaves  were  granted  a  day  of  liberty  on  the  Ides  of  the 
month  of  August,  in  memory  of  the  servile  birth  of  Servius  Tullius  (Pint.,  Quaest.  Rom.  100; 
Festus,  s.  V.  Sen'oriim).  This  festival  proves  that  we  ought  carefully  to  examine  the  customs 
which,  though  themselves  often  sprung  from  a  legend,  would  ap]iear  to  give  to  the  latter  the 
character  of  a  historic  fact.     This  observation  apjilics  to  many  Koniaii  usages. 

VOL.   I.  11 


162. 


ROME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


him,  and  he  grew  up  in  the  King's  palace  in  the  midst  of  -pro- 
digies and  manifest  signs  of  liis  future  greatness.  We  shall  see 
later  on  what  history  and  archaeology  make  of  these  traditions, 
which  concealed  a  totally  different  fate. 

Having    become    king,    Servius     made    great    changes    in    the 
city  and    m   its   laws.      He   gave    Rome    the    dimensions  which   it 


FRAGMKNT    OF    THE    WALL    OF    SERVIUS    TULLIUS. 


had  imder  the  Republic,  by  uniting  the  Viminal,  the  Esquiline, 
and  the  Quirinal  to  the  city,  1w  a  wall  and  a  mighty  hank  of 
earth  {agger),  with  a  ditch  in  front,  lUU  Roman  feet  wide,  and 
30  deep.i 

^  This  is  .a  little  loss  tliaii  100  foet  one  way,  and  30  the  otliei-.  The  Roman  foot  is  equiva- 
lent to  ll.G  inches.  This  wall  was  not  continuous.  It  did  not  exist  by  the  side  of  the  Tiber, 
which  ap]ieared  a  suflicient  defence  in  itself,  since  the  fortress  of  the  Janicnlum  defended  its 
approaches,  and  certain  sides  of  the  Capitol  were  steep  enough  to  apjiear  inaccessible.  "  There 
exist  between  the  Esipiiline  and  C'oUine  gates  considerable  remains  of  the  great  agyer  of 
Servius,  wliich  Tarquin  the  Proud  enlarged.  In  the  section  reitresented  in  the  engraving  there 
is  shown  a  wall,  now  visible,  of  a  height  of  2G  feet.  Built  in  regular  courses,  this  wall  has  a 
foundation  of  blocks  averaging  1 0  feet  in  length.     In  order  the  better  to  resist  the  pressure  of 


TKADITIONAL   HISTOEY   OF   THE   KINGS.  163 

Rome  was  then  the  size  of  Athens,  two  leagues  and  a  half  in 
circumference.       He    divided    it    into    four    quarters    or    city    tribes, 


SECTION    OF    THE    AGGER    OU    UAMPAUT    OF    SEUVIUS    TITLLIUS. 

the  Palatine,  the  Suhuran,  the  Colline,  and  the  Esquiline,  each 
quarter  having  its  tribune,  who  drew  up  the  lists  for  conscriptions 
and  military  service.  At  the  Ijirtli  of  each  boy  a  piece  of  silver 
had  to  be  deposited  in  the  treasury  of  Juno 
Lucina,  the  protectress  of  women  in  travail. 
The  territory  was  divided  into  twenty-six  can- 
tons, also  called  tribes,  and  all  the  people,  patri- 
cians and  plebeians,  according  to  the  census  — 
that  is  to  say,  according  to  their  fortune  —  into 
five    classes    and    a    hundred    and    eighty-three 

JUNO    LUCINA.l 

centuries,  the  last  of  which  was  formed  by  the 
Proletariate.     The  last  named  were  excluded  from  military  service ; 
Servius  was  unwilling  to  intrust  arms  to  citizens  who,  possessing 
nothing,  could  not  take   an  interest  m  public  ali'airs,  nor  give   the 
state  a  guarantee  of  their  fidelity.^ 

Moreover,  Servius  concluded  with  the  thirty  Latin  towns  a 
treaty,  the  text  of  wliieh  Dionysius  claims  to  have  seen  pre- 
served in  the  temple  of  Diana  on  the  Aventine.^  In  order  to 
draw  closer  the  bonds  of  this  alliance,  a  temple,  in  which  was  seen 
the  first  statue  erected  at  Rome,  had  been  built  at  the  common 
expense. 

Some  Sabine  tribes  also  came  to  sacrifice.     These  leagues,  which 

the  earth  whirh  forms  the  rauqiart.  tlie  wall  is  Hanked  at  intervals  of  1  7  feet  by  buttresses  7 
feet  stiuare.  The  ditch  runs  along  this  wall.  ...  In  the  time  of  Augustus  the  a<J!/<:>'  was 
converted  by  Maecenas  into  a  walk."      Diet,  des  Ant.  p.  140,  seq. 

1  IVNONI  LVCINAE  s.  c.  Juno  seated,  holds  in  one  hand  the  flower  which  precedes 
the  fruit,  and  with  the  other  a  child  in  swaddling-clothes.  The  reverse  of  a  large  bronze  of 
Lucilla,  wife  of  the  Emperor  Lucius  Verus. 

■^  See  below.  Chap.  vi. 

'  iv.  26.  But  if  Dionysius  saw  this  treaty,  he  could  not  understand  it ;  for  Polybius 
found  it  very  dilhcult  to  read  a  document  which  was  not  so  old  by  two  centuries. 


164  ROME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

had  their  centre  in  the  sanctuary  of  a  divinity,  were  common 
among  the  Italiote  nations,  and  recall  the  Amphictyonies  of 
Greece. 

We  must  keep  them  in  mind,  fur  we  shall  find  these  religious 
confederations  under  the  Empire ;  and  we  shall  have  to  reproach 
the  Emperors  with  not  liaA'ing  known  how  to  utilize,  in  the 
interest  of  provincial  liberties,  an  mstitution  which  might  have 
saved  the  provinces  and  themselves. 

But  let  us  return  to  the  legend.  Livy  relates  how  the  ruse 
of  one  of  the  Roman  priests,  attached  to  the  temple  of  Diana, 
gave  Rome  its  hegemony  over  Latium.  "  A  heifer  of  extraordi- 
nary beauty  was  laorn  at  the  house  of  a  Saljine  mountaineer.  The 
divines  announced  that  he  who  should  sacrifice  it  to  the  Diana 
of  the  Aventine  would  secure  the  empire  to  his  country.  The 
Sabine  led  his  heifer  to  the  temple,  and  was  going  to  perform  the 
sacrifice,  when  the  priest,  versed  in  prophecy,  stopped  him :  '  What 
art  thou  aljout  to  do  ?  Offer  a  sacrifice  to  Diana  without  having 
purified  thyself  ?  It  is  sacrilege !  The  Tiber  flows  at  the  foot  of 
this  hill ;  run  and  make  ceremonial  ablutions  there.'  The  peasant 
went  down  to  the  river.  When  he  returned,  the  priest  had  sacri- 
ficed the  victim."  And  Livy  adds :  ''  This  pious  knavery  was  very 
agreeable  to  the  Kmg  and  to  the  people."  Moreover,  the  immense 
horns  of  the  ^predestined  heifer  were  preserved  for  ages  in  the 
vestibule  of  the  temple.  Popular  imagination  loves  to  make  the 
greatest  results  proceed  from  the  smallest  trifles,  and' some  histori- 
ans do  likewise.  If  the  Latins  had  already  accepted  the  supremacy 
of  Rome,  it  was  because  her  arms  had  established  it. 

Tradition  also  spoke  of  a  war  of  Servius  against  Veil,  Tarquinii, 
and  the  inhabitants  of  Caere.  The  latter  had  united  their  arms 
with  those  of  the  Etruscans,  notwithstanding  their  Pelasgian  origin, 
which  connected  them  with  Rome  (whose  allies  they  became  later 
on)  and  with  Greece,  which  gave  them  so  many  of  the  vases  now 
found  in  their  tombs.^  This  war  must  have  resulted  for  the 
Romans  in  an  increase  of  territory ;  but  the  distribution  of  these 
lands  which  Servius   made    to  the    poor  augmented  still  more   the 

^  Two  small  black  vases,  found  in  these  tombs,  and  very  iusiguificant  in  form,  have 
acquired  a  great  importance,  because  it  is  believed  that  the  inscriptions  on  them  were 
Pelasgian. 


TRADITIONAL   HISTORY    OF   THE   KINGS. 


165 


hatred  of  the  patricians,  whose  power  he  had,  by  his  laws,  con- 
siderably limited.  Thus  they  favored  the  conspiracy  which  was 
formed  against  the  popular  King. 

The   two    daughters    of    Servius  liad    niai'ried    the    two    sons   of 
Tarquin  the  Elder,  Lucius  and  Ai'uns.      But   the   ambitious   Tullia 


VASE    OF    CAERE. 1 


had  been  united  to  Aruns,  the  more  gentle  of  the  two  brothers, 
and  her  sister  to  Lucius,  who  merited,  by  his  pride  and  cruelty, 
the  surname   of  Superbus.       Tullia   and   Lucius  were    not    slow    in 

^  Corinthian  vase  found  at  Caere  in  1856.  It  represents  :  on  the  lower  band  horsemen 
j;aIlo|)ing,  and  on  the  npper  band  "  Hercules  (HEPAKAE2)  takinff  part  in  the  banquet  which 
the  King  of  Oeehalia  offers  him.  The  young  lule  (EIOAA)  is  standing  between  the  table  of  the 
god  and  that  of  her  brother  Iphitus  (EI*IT02).  The  two  other  couches  bear  Eurytius 
(EYPYTIOS)  and  his  three  sons,  Didaeon  (AIAAIEON),  Clytius  (KA/TIOS),  and  Toxus 
(T0305).  All  these  names  are  in  ancient  Corinthian  characters,  and  traced  alternately  from 
right  to  left  and  from  left  to  right,  so  as  to  foi-m,  if  they  were  arranged  in  a  column,  a  boustro- 
phedon  text  (like  the  turn  of  an  ox  ploughing)."  (De  Longperier,  Mu.':ee  Nap.  iii.  jil.  Ixxi.) 
[For  the  benefit  of  readers  not  versed  in  palaeography,  it  should  be  noted  that  the  old  Corin- 
thian E  and  H  were  written  like  the  B  of  other  inscriptions ;  the  I  has  a  zigzag  form ;  the  S 
is  turned  over,  as  in  almost  all  older  Greek  writing.  —  Ed.'] 


166     •  EOME    UNDER   THE    KINGS. 

nnderstanding  each  other  and  in  conferring  about  their  criminal 
hopes.  Tullia  got  rid  of  lier  husband  and  of  her  sister  by  poison,  in 
order  to  marry  Lucius.  Overwliehned  witli  grief,  Servius  wished 
to  abdicate,  and  estabhsli  consular  government.  Tliis  was  the  pre- 
text wliicli  Lucius  made  to  the  patricians  for  overtlirowing  the 
King.  One  day,  when  the  people  were  in  the  fields  for  harvest, 
he  ajjpeared  in  the  Senate  clothed  with  the  insignia  of  royalty,  threw 
the  old  prince  headlong  from  the  top  of  the  stone  steps  which  led 
to  the*  Senate  House,  and  caused  him  to  be  put  to  death  by  his 
confederates ;  Tullia,  hastening  to  hail  her  luisband  as  king,  drove 
her  chariot  over  the  bleeding  body  of  her  father.  The  street 
retained  the  na-me  of  Via  Scelerata;^  but  the  people  did  not  forget 
the  man  who  had  intended  to  establish  plebeian  liberties,  and  on  the 
nones  they  celebrated  the  birth  of  the  good  King  Servius  (534). 


Vll.   TAEQumius  SuPERBUs  (534-510). 

The  king  was  succeeded  Ijy  the  tyrant.  Surrounded  by  a  guard 
of  mercenaries  and  seconded  by  a  party  of  the  senators  whom  he 
had  gained  over,  Tarquin  governed  without  the  aid  of  laws,  depriving 
some  of  their  goods,  banishing  others,  and  punishing  with  death 
all  those  of  whom  he  was  afraid.  In  order  to  strengthen  his  power, 
he  allied  himself  Avith  strangers  and  gave  his  daughter  to  Octavius 
Mamilius,  dictator  of  Tusculum.  Rome  had  its  voice  in  the 
Latin  feriae,  in  which  the  heads  of  forty-seven  towns,  assembled 
in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Latiaris,^  on  the  summit  of  the  Alban 
mount,  which  so  majestically  commands  all  Latium,  offered  a 
common  sacrifice  and  celebrated  their  alliance  by  festivals.  Tarquin 
changed  this  relationship  of  equality  into  an  actual  dominion,  by 
what  means  we  do  not  know,  but  certainly  by  now-forgotten 
struggles.  Legend  substituted  the  tragic  adventure  of  Herdonius 
of  Aricia  for  these  tales  of  Ixittle.  "  Tarquin,"  says  Livy,  "  pro- 
posed one  day  to  the  chiefs  of  Latium  to  assemble  at  the  wood  of 
the    goddess   Ferentina,    in    order    to    deliberate    on    theh    common 

^  Livy,  i.  41-48;  Dionys.  iv.  33-40,  and  Ovid  (Faaf.  vi.  SOS)  speak  of  a  combat  between 
tlie  two  parties,  —  Hinc  cruor,  Jiinc  caedes,  etc. 

^  The  ruins  of  the  temple,  which  still  existed  in  the  eighteenth  century,  were  destroyed 
by  the  last  of  the  Stuarts  [the  Duke  of  Albany]. 


TRADITIONAL   HISTORY   OF  THE  KINGS.  167 

interests.  They  arrived  at  sunrise,  but  Tarqnin  kept  them  waiting. 
•  What  insolence ! '  cn'ied  Herdunius  of  Aricia  at  last.  '  Is  all  the 
Latin  nation  to  be  thus  mocked  ? '  And  he  was  persuading  each 
of  them  to  return  to  his  home.  At  this  moment  the  King  appeared. 
He  had  been  chosen,  said  he,  as  mediator  between  a  father  and  sun ; 
tins  was  tlie  cause  of  the  delay,  for  which  he  apologized,  and  pro- 
posed to  postpone  tlie  deliberation  to  the  morrow.  '  It  was  very 
easy,'  replied  Herdonius,  '  to  put  an  end  to  this  difference.  Two 
words  were  sufficient :  that  the  son  should  obey  or  be  punished.* 
Tarquin,  hurt  by  these  outspoken  words,  caused  arms  to  be  concealed 
during  the  night  in  the  house  of  Herdonius,  and  on  the  morrow 
accused  him  of  wishing  to  usurp  the  empire  over  all  Latium  l)y  the 
massacre  of  the  chiefs.  The  Asseml)ly  condemned  the  alleged  traitor 
to  be  drowned  in  the  water  of  Ferentina,  under  a  hurdle  loaded 
with  stones ;  and  Tarciuin,  being  rid  of  this  citizen  who  had  so 
little  respect  for  kings,  had  the  treaty  renewed,  but  introduced  into 
it  a  clause  that  the  Latins,  instead  of  hghting  under  their  national 
chiefs,  should  be,  in  all  expeditions,  united  with  the  legions  and 
officered  by  Roman  centurions."  ^  This  narrative  is  only  the  feel^le 
echo  of  a  violent  rivalry  between  Rome  and  the  town  of  which 
Herdonius  was  chief,  Aricia,  a  powerful  city,  against  which  the 
empire  of  Porsenna  was  presently  shattered. 

Having  become  the  actual  leader  of  the  Latin  confederation,  to 
which  there  also  lielonged  the  Hernici  and  the  Volscian  towns  of 
Ecetra  and  Antium,  Tarquin  laid  siege  to  and  took  the  rich  city 
of  Suessa  Pometia,  which,  doubtless,  refused  to  enter  into  the 
league.  He  was  at  first  less  fortunate  against  Gabii.  A  check 
which  he  endured  in  an  assault  compelled  him  even  to  give 
up  a  regular  siege.  But  his  son  Sextus  presented  himself  to  the 
Gabians.  "Tarquin,"  said  he,  "is  as  cruel  to  his  family  as  to  his 
people ;  he  wishes  to  depopulate  his  house  as  he  has  done  the 
Senate.  I,  Sextus,  have  only  escaped  by  flight  from  my  father's 
sword."  He  was  received,  his  counsels  were  followed,  and  successful 
mroads  into  the  nger  liOnianus  increased  the  confidence  which  was 

*  Livy.  i,  .50-52.  The  spring  called  aqua  Fereiiimn,  which  was,  perhaps,  a  natural 
outlet  of  the  All)an  Lake,  burst  forth  in  a  sacred  wood,  in  which,  until  the  year  340  b.  c, 
the  Latins  held  their  assemblies.  Festus,  s.  v.  Praetor.  It  is  now  the  Marrana  del  Pantano, 
which  flows  in  a  deep  valley  near  Marino. 


168  •  EOME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

placed  in  him.  Soon  no  one  had  more  credit  in  the  city.  Then  he 
despatched  to  Rome  a  secret  emissary,  commissioned  to  aslc  the  old 
King  what  Sextus  ought  to  do  in  order  to  give  the  city  into  his 
hands.  Tarquin,  without  speaking  a  word,  passed  into  his  garden, 
and,  walking  up  and  down,  cut  down  with  a  stick  the  poppies 
which  were  highest;  then  he  sent  l)aclc  the  messenger,  quite  sur- 
prised at  such  a  strange  answer. 

The  Roman  logographers  took  this  story  from  Herodotus  [who 
tells  it  about  Periander,  tyrant  of  Corinth]  ;  but  tlie  submission  of 
Gabii  to  Tarquin  is  none  the  less  certain.  Dionysius 
of  Halicarnassus  saw  the  treaty  concluded  between 
the  King  and  this  city :  it  was  preserved  on  a 
wooden  shield  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Fidius,  —  a 
COIN  OF  THE  place  singularly  chosen  for  a  monument  of  treason,  if 
GENS  ANTisTiA.  |j^g  narrative  of  Livy  was  as  true  as  it  is  celebrated.^ 
On  the  lands  taken  from  the  Volscians  Tarquin  founded  two 
colonies :  the  one  enclosed  behind  the  walls  of  the  Pelasgian 
Signia.  the  other  on  the  promontory  of  Circe.  They  were  com- 
posed of  Roman  and  Latin  citizens,  wlio  had  to  furnish  their 
contingent  to  the  army  of  the  league.  This  was  the  first  example 
of  those  military  colonies,  whicli,  nmltiplied  by  the  Senate  at  all 
points  of  Ital}-,  extended  there  the  laws  and  language  of  Latium. 
At  the  same  time  they  were  permanent  garrisons,  advanced  out- 
posts, which  would  stop  an  enemy  far  from  the  capital,  and 
whence  valiant  soldiers  could  be  drawn  at  need. 

Like  his  father,  Tarquin  loved  pomp  and  magnificence.  He 
hired  skilful  Etruscan  workmen,  and  with  the  spoil  ol^tained  from 
the  Volscians  he  finished  the  sewers  and  the  Capitol,  —  that  favorite 
residence  of  the  god  who  holds  the  thunder,  and  whence  "  he  so 
often  shook  his  Ijlack  shield  and  summoned  the  storm-clouds  to 
him."^  Li  digging  up  the  soil  for  laying  the  foundations  of  this 
new  sanctuary  of  Rome,  they  had  found  a  human  head  which  seemed 
freshly  cut  off.     '•  It  is  a  sign,"  said  the  augurs,  "  that  this  temple 

'  It  bears  the  words  FOEDVS  CVM  GABIXTS.  or  treaty  with  the  Gabians,  and 
re])resents  two  persons  offering  a  pig  in  sacrifice,  in  order  to  consecrate  the  convention. 

'^  Hor.,  Ep.  II.  i.  25,  and  Fest.  s.  v.  Clypcus.  Gabii  had  obtained  the  isojiohty  with 
Rome.  .  .  .  (Tvv  TovTots  Trjv  'Pw/iaiuf  IcroTToKirelav  airaai  \apl(ea-d(U.  (Dioliys.  of  Hal.,  Ant, 
Rotn.    iv.    58.) 

3  Vergil.,  Aan.  viii.  353. 


TEADITIONAL  HISTORY   OF  THE  KINGS. 


169 


will  be  the  head  of  the  world."  The  Sibylline  books  were  shut  up 
in  a  stone  cotter  under  the  Capitol.  A  prophetess,  the  Sibyl  of 
Cumae,  had  come,  disguised  as  an  old  woman,  to  otter  to  sell 
the  King  nine  books.  On  his  refusal  she  burned  three  of  them, 
and  returned  to  ask  the  same  sum  for  the  six  others.  A  second 
refusal   made    her  burn    tliree   more.      Tai(iuin,   astonished,   bought 


H.(AT£H.^(Xl  ""^^S^r: 


GATE   OF   SIGNI.\.l 


those  which  remained,  and  intrusted  them  to  the  keeping  of  two 
patricians.  In  times  of  great  danger  these  books  were  opened  at 
random,  as  it  seems,  and  the  first  passage  which  was  presented 
to  the  eyes  served  as  an  answer."  In  the  Middle  Ages,  too,  they 
cast  lots  on  the  Gospels. 

1  We  give  a  variety  of  these  views,  for  the  reasons  given  above. 

2  Dionys.,  iv.  62;  Cic.,  Dirin.  ii.  .54;  Tac,  Ann.  vi.  12.  Justin  (i.  6)  attributes  this 
story  to  Tarquin  the  Elder.  Athens  appears  to  have  -had  similar  books.  Cf.  the  discourse 
of  Deinarclius  against  Demosthi'nes :  €v  ah  ra  r^s  noXeas  crarr^pia  Kurm.  jSlany  otiier  towns 
had  some :  ;(pr;(r/xoi  a-i^vXkiaKoi.  The  Dorians  said  a-ws  for  6e6i  and  /3oXXd  for  fiovXJ]. 
2io3uXi5,  whence  Sibyl,  signifies,  then,  the  counsel  of  God.  The  most  ancient  that  we  now 
liavo  were  drawn  up  about  the  middle  of  the  second  century  before  our  era,  by  Jews  from 
^?.^P*-     [The  habit  of  opening  the  Bible  at  random  for  advice  in  difficult  circumstances  is 


170 


RO]\IE    UNDER   THE  KINGS. 


These  menacing  signs,  however,  frightened  the  royal  family. 
In  order  to  know  the  means  of  appeasing  the  gods,  Tarquiu 
sent  his  two  sons  to  consult  the  oracle  of  Delphi,  the  reputation 
of  which  had  penetrated  as  far  as  Italy.  Brutus,  a  nephew  of 
the  King,  who  feigned  madness  ^  in  oi'der  to  escape  his  suspicious 
fears,  accompanied  them.      When  the  God  had  replied,  the  young 


WALL   OP    CIRCEI.2 


men  asked  which  of  them  would  replace  the  King  on  the  throne : 
"He,"  said  the  Pythia,  "who  embraces  his  mother  first."  Brutus 
understood  the  concealed  meaning  of  the  oracle  :  he  fell  down 
and  kissed  the  earth,  our  common  m(.)ther. 

not  yet  extinct  amonsj  nltra-Protestants  in  this  kintjilom ;  and  there  are  men  still  living  -n-ho 
have  "cut  for  premium"  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  when  two  equal  competitors  used  to 
open  the  Bible  at  random,  and  j)riority  of  the  second  letter  in  the  second  Hue  on  the  left- 
hand  page  determined  the  victor.  —  JSi/.] 

1  He  was  made,  however,  tribune  of  the  Celeres,  who  was,  next  to  the  King,  the  first 
magistrate  of  the  state.  His  name,  which  in  the  ancient  Latin  signifies  the  grave  aud  strong 
man  (Fest.  s.  v.  Brutiirn).  but  which  also  had  the  meaning  of  idiot,  gave  rise  to  the  legend  of 
his  madness. 

^  See  Dodwell,  Pelasgk  Remains.  ]il.  104. 


I 


TRADITIONAL  HISTORY   OF  THE  KINGS. 


171 


The  journey  to  Delphi  was  then  for  the  Romans  a  very 
great  journey,  and  the  King  had  no  motive  for  scmling  .siuli  an 
embassy. 

But   the    Greeks    wished    that   this   homage    should  be  rendered 


THE    CAVE    OF    THE    SIBYL    OF    CUMAE.' 


to  their  favorite  oracle ;  and  in  order  to  complete  the  picture 
of  the  tyranny  of  Tarquin,  they  took  a  pleasure  in  showing  the 
nephew  of  the  King  constrained  to  conceal  his  deep  mind  under 
the  appearance  of  madness,  as  he  had  concealed  a  golden  ingot 
in   his   travelling   staff,  in    order   to    offer   it   to   the   god. 

In  a  play  of  Attius,  represented  in  the  time  of  Caesar,  the 
poet  related  that  Tarquin,  troubled  by  a  dream,  had  called  his 
diviners  ahout  him.  "  I  saw  in  a  vision,"  said  he,  "  in  the  midst 
of  a  flock,  two  magnificent  rams.     I  sacrificed  one  ;  but  the  other, 


^  Taken  from  an  engra^•in^;  of  the  Bibliothfeque  Nationale.  The  mountain  seen  to  the 
right  is  the  hill  on  whicli  C'umae  had  been  built.  The  summit  bore  its  acropolis,  and  grottos 
had  been  excavated  in  it.  One  of  these  grottos,  the  entrance  of  which  is  seen,  is  supposed 
to  have  been  the  cave  where  the  Sibyl  gave  her  oracles.     (See  Vergil,  Aen.  vi.  41.) 


172  EOME  UNDEE  THE   KINGS. 

dashing  upon  me,  threw  me  to  the  ground,  and  severely  wounded 
me  with  his  horns.  At  this  moment  I  perceived  in  the  heavens  a 
wonderful  prodigy :  the  sun  changed  his  course,  and  his  flaming 
orb  moved  towards  the  right."  "  0  King ! "  reiDlied  the  augurs, 
"  the  thoughts  which  occupy  us  in  the  day-time  are  reproduced 
in  our  visions ;  there  is  no  need,  then,  to  be  troubled.  However, 
take  care  that  he,  whom  thou  dost  not  count  higher  than  a 
beast,  have  not  in  him  a  great  soul,  full  of  wisdom.  The  prodigy 
which  thou  hast  seen  announces  a  revolution  near  at  hand.  May 
it  be  a  happy  one  for  the  people !  But  the  majestic  star  took 
its  course  from  left  to  right ;  it  is  a  sure  omen.  Rome  will  attain 
to  the  pinnacle  of  glory."  ^  Was  it  the  Greek  fiction  that  the 
friend  of  Caesar's  murderer  took  up  in  his  Brutm?  or  did  he  recall 
a  ti'adition  preserved  in  the  house  of  the  founder  of  the  Republic  ? 
Around  great  events  there  always  gather  a  cycle  of  stories  of 
adventure   from    whicli    poetry    and   legendary    liistory    can    draw. 

AVhen  the  embassy  returned  from  Greece,  Tarquin  besieged  Ardea, 
which  was  the  capital  of  the  Rutili,  and  had  been  that  of  Turnus, 
the  rival  of  Aeneas.^  It  was  a  powerful  city,  in  whicli  the  Etruscans 
had  long  ruled ;  Pliny  there  saw  pictures  which  were  thought 
more  ancient  than  Rome ;  ^  and  although  its  decay  commenced  as 
early  as  the  third  century,  some  statues  have  been  f(jund  there 
which,  in  spite  of  their  mutilations,  suggest  the  inspiration  of  Greek 
art.  What  remains  of  its  walls  and  citadel  is  more  imposing  than 
any  of  the  i-uins  found  in  Etruria.  The  operations  commenced 
against  it  by  Tarquin  were  protracted  and  wearisome,  so  that  the 
yoimg  princes  sought  to  drive  away  by  feasts  and  games  the  ennui 
of  the  siege ;  when  one  day  there  arose  between  them  that  fatal 
dispute  concerning  the  merits  of  their  wives.  "  Let  us  take  horse," 
said  Tarquinius  CoUatinus ;  "  they  do  not  expect  us,  and  we  Avill 
judge  them  according  to  the  occupations  in  which  we  surprise 
them."  At  Collatia  they  found  the  King's  daughters-in-law  engaged 
m  the  delights  of  a  sumptuous  feast.  Lucretia,  on  the  contrary, 
in  the  retirement  of   her   house,  was    spinning    among   her   women 

1  This  passage  is  all  ihat  remains  of  the  Bruins  and  even  of  any  Roman  tragedy  of  the 
class  called  praetextata,  or  national. 

^  lu  the  treaty  concluded  with  Carthage,  in  the  first  year  of  the  Republic,  Ardea  is  called 
the  subject  of  Rome. 

*  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  xxxv.  6. 


TRADITIONAL   HISTORY   OF   THE   KINGS.  173 

far  into  the  night.  She  was  proclaimed  the  best.  But  her  dis- 
cretion and  her  beauty  excited  criminal  passion  in  the  heart  of 
Sextus.  Some  time  afterward  he  returned  one  night  to  Collatia, 
entered  the  room  of  Lucretia,  urged  her  to  yield  to  his  desires, 
and  combined  threats  with  promises.  If  she  resists,  he  will  kill 
her,  place  beside  her  the  dead  body  of  a  murdered  slave,  and  go 
and  tell  Collatinus  and  all  Rome  that  he  has  punished  the  cvilprits. 
Lucretia  is  overcome  by  this  infamous  perfidy,  which  exposes  her 
to  dishonor ;  but  no  sooner  was  the  outrage  accomplished,  than 
she  sends  a  swift  messenger  to  her  father  and  her  husband  to 
come  to  her,  each  with  a  trusty  friend.  Brutus  accompanies 
Collatinus.  They  found  her  plunged  in  deep  grief.  She  informs 
them  of  the  outrage,  and  her  desire  not  to  survive  it ;  but  demands 
of  them  the  punishment  of  the  criminal.  In  vain  they  try  to 
shake  her  resolution ;  they  urge  that  she  is  not  guilty,  since 
her  heart  is  innocent ;  it  is  the  intention  which  constitutes  the 
crime.^  But  she  says :  "  It  is  for  you  to  decide  the  fate  of 
Sextus ;  for  myself,  I  absolve  myself  of  the  crime,  but  I  do 
not  exempt  myself  from  the  penalty ;  no  woman,  to  survive 
her  shame,  shall  ever  invoke  the  example  of  Lucretia."  And 
she  stabs  herself  with  a  dagger  which  she  had  concealed  under 
her  dress. 

Brutus  drew  the  weapon  from  the  wound,  and,  holding  it  up, 
cried :  "■  Ye  gods !  I  call  you  to  witness.  By  this  blood,  so  pure 
before  the  outrage  of  this  King's  son,  I  swear  to  pursue  with  fire 
and  sword,  with  all  the  means  in  my  power,  Tarquin,  his  infamous 
family,  and  his  cursed  race.  I  swear  no  longer  to  suffer  a  King  in 
Rome."  He  hands  the  weapon  to  Collatinus,  Lucretius,  and 
Valerius,  who  repeat  the  same  oath ;  and  together  they  repair  to 
Rome.  They  show  the  bleeding  body  of  the  victim,  and  mcite 
to  vengeance  the  Senate,  whom  Tarquin  had  decimated,  and  the 
people,  whom  he  had  oppressed  with  forced  labor  on  his 
buildings.  A  senatus-consulticm,  confirmed  by  the  Curiae,  pro- 
claimed the  dethronement  of   the  King,  his  exile,  and  that  of   all 

*  [The  Greeks  and  Romans,  who  were  familiar  with  these  misfortunes  in  the  case  of  the 
noblest  captives  taken  in  war,  and  were  accustomed  to  rccei\e  them  back  into  their  homes, 
felt  the  justice  of  this  e.xcuse  far  more  thoroughly  than  we  should  do,  among  whom  the  stain 
is  indelible.  —  Ed.] 


174 


ROME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


his  kin.  Then  Brutus  hastened  to  the  camp  before  Ardea, 
which  he  moved  to  insurrection ;  while  Tarquin,  having  returned 
to  Rome  in  all  haste,  found  its  gates  shut,  and  was  reduced  to 
take  refuge  with  his  sons  Titus  and  Aruns  in  the  Etruscan  town 
of  Caere.  The  third,  Sextus,  having  retreated  to  Gabii,  was 
killed  there  by  the  relatives  of  his  victims.' 

This  same  year  Athens  was  delivered  from  the  tyranny  of 
the    Pisistratidae. 

As  a  reward  for  their  aid,  the  people   claimed  the  restoration 


'  BRUTUS    (bust    in   THE    CArlTOI-). 

of  the  laws  of  tlie  good  King  Servius  and  the  establishment  of 
consular  government ;  the  Senate  consented  to  it,  and  the  comitia 
centuriata    proclaimed    as    consuls    Junius    Brutus   and   Tarquinius 

I  Livy,  i.  57-CO. 


TEADITIONAL   HISTOEY    OF   THE   KINGS. 


175 


CoUatinus,  and  afterward  Valerius,  when  Collatinus,  having  in- 
curred suspicion  on  account  of  his  name,  was  exiled  to  Lavinium. 
Many  others  fared  as  he  did  ;  for  "  the  people,  intoxicated  with 
their  new  libert}',  exacted  reprisals,"  says  Cicero ;  "  and  a  great 
number  of  innocent  people  were  exiled  or  despoiled  of  their 
goods."  ^ 

Caere  only  offei'ed   a    refuge    to    Tarqnin.      But    Tarquinii    and 


THE    GRINDER.-' 


Veii  sent  to  Rome  to  demand  the  restoration  of  the  Kino-,  or  at 
least  the  restitution  of  the  goods  of  his  house  and  of  those  who 
had  followed  him.^  During  the  negotiations  the  deputies  planned 
a  conspiracy  with  some  }'oung  patricians  who  preferred  the 
brilliant  service  of  a  prince  to  the  reign  of  law,  order,  and 
liberty ;  the  slave  Vindicius  discovered  the  plot ;  the  culprits 
were    seized,    and    amongst    them    the    sons    and    some    relatives    of 

^  De  Rep.  i.  40. 

^  Tliis  beautiful  statue  is  supposed  to  represent  the  slave  listening  to  the  conspiracy  of  the 
sons  of  Brutus,  or  to  that  of  Brutus  and  Cassius  against  Caesar. 
^  Dionys.,  v.  4-6,  and  Plut.,  Po2>l.  3. 


176 


KOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


MaM^- 


COIN    OF    THE    GENS    IIORATIA.^ 


Brutus,  who  ordered  and  calmly  looked  on  at  their  execution. 
Twenty  days  were  granted  to  the  refugees  to  return  to  the  city.^ 
In  order  to  gain  the  people  over  to  the  cause  of  the  revolvition, 
they  were  allowed  the  pillage  of  Tarquin's  goods,  and  each  ple- 
beian received  seven  acres  of  the  royal 
lands  ;  the  fields  which  extended  be- 
tween the  city  and  the  liver  were 
consecrated  to  Mars,  and  the  sheaves 
of  wheat  which  they  bore,  seized  and 
thrown  into  the  Tiber,  were  stopped  on 
the  shallows  which  became  afterward  the  Island  of  Aesculapius.^ 

An  army  of  Veientines  and  Tarquinians.  however,  marched 
on  Rome.      The  legions  went  out  to  meet  them  ;    and  in  a   smgle 

comljat  Brutus  and  Aruns  fell  mortally 
wounded.  Night  separated  the  combatants 
without  decided  victor}'.  But  at  midnight 
a  great  voice,  as  it  Avere,  was  heard  pro- 
ceeding from  the  Arsian  Avood  and  pro- 
nouncing these  Avords  :  "  Rome  has  lost  one 
Avarrior  less  than  the  Etruscan  army."  The 
latter  fled  away  in  a  panic.  A'^alerius  re- 
entered Rome  in  triumph  and  pronounced 
the  funeral  panegyric  of  Brutus ;  the  matrons  honored  by  a 
year's  mourning  the  avenger  of  outraged  modesty,  and  the  people 
placed  his  statue,  sword  in  hand,  on  the  Capitol,  near  those  of 
the  kings,  Avhich  were  still  protected  by  a  superstitious  fear. 

1  Dionys.,  v.  13. 

'^  A  coin  bearing  the  name  of  ('ocles  and  struck  at  an  uncertain  date  b_v  some  member 
of  the  gens  Horada.     In  front,  a  head  of  I'allas ;  on  the  reverse,  the  Dioscuri. 

'  Dionys.,  ibid.,  and  Plin.,  x\  iii.  4.  This  insula  Tiberina  (di  San  Bartolomeo)  was  aftei> 
ward  joined  to  the  left  bank  uf  tlie  river  by  the  pons  Fabricius  (Ponte  Quattro  Capi,  on 
account  of  the  figures  of  Janus  qimdrifons  ])laced  at  its  extremities),  and  to  tlic  right  bank  by 
the  pons  Cestlus,  wliicli  bears  tlie  modern  name  of  tlie  island.  In  memory  of  a  miracle,  which 
we  shall  have  to  relate  later  on,  they  gave  to  the  insula  Tiberina,  by  solid  constructions,  the 
form  of  the  keel  of  a  ship  floating  on  the  water,  and  its  extremity  represented  a  prow,  the 
remains  of  which  are  still  seen.  To  this  island,  very  subject  before  these  works  to  the  inunda- 
tions of  the  Tiber,  they  carried  the  slaves,  old,  sick,  or  infirm,  and  there  abandoned  them. 
Aesculapius  afterward  hail  his  first  temple  there.  Notwithstanding  the  neighborhood  of  the 
god  "healer,"  the  desperate  who  wished  to  ([uit  life,  without  earing  about  their  burial,  gener- 
ally chose  the  pons  Fabricius  in  order  to  pass  into  eternity  through  the  Tiber.  (Hor.,  Sal.  11. 
Ui.  36.) 

*  Bronze  medallion  of  .\ntonine.  Codes  crosses  the  Tiber  swimming;  an  enemy  is  trying 
to  pierce  him  with  his  javelin,  and  a  Roman  finishes  breaking  down  the  bridge. 


HORATIUS    COCLES.* 


v,"^      ,i'' 


'Jiff    ^^'  fj  ,i;S 

[lit  4'  //  '-i'^ 


^f* 


•C:lf? 


nt-  t-;yj 


i  !«.,! 


I 
I 
I 


CM 


PS 

w 


K 


-a 


TEADITIONAL   HISTORY   OF   THE   KINGS.  177 

Devotion  to  public  affairs,  piety  towards  tlio  gods,  and  lieroic 
exploits  distinguished  this  nascent  libert}' :  it  was  Valerius  who, 
being  suspected  on  account  of  his  stone  house  built  on  tlie  Velian, 
above  the  Forum,  had  it  demolished  in  one  night,  and  earned, 
by  his  popular  laws,  the  surname  of  Poplicola ;  it  was  Horatius 
to  whom  the  death  of  his  son  was  announced  during  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  Capitol,  and  who  would  hear  nothing  of  this 
domestic  calamity  because  he  was  praying  to  the  gods  for  Rome ; 
and,  lastly,  when  Tarquin  armed  Porsenna  against  his  ancient 
people,  it  was  Horatius  Codes  who  defended  the  j^ons  Suhlicius 
alone  against  an  army  ;  Mucins  Scaevola,  who,  standing  before  the 
wondering  Porsenna,  put  his  hand  into  a  brazier  in  order  to  punish 
it  for  making  a  mistake  in  killing,  instead  of  the  King,  one  of 
his  officers ;  it  was  Cloelia,  who,  having  been  given  as  a  hostage 
to  the  Etruscan  prince,  escaped  from  his  camp  and  crossed  the 
Tiber  by  swimming.^  Then  comes  the  war-song  of  the  battle  of 
Lake  Regillus,^  the  last  effort  of  Tarquin,  who,  abandoned  by 
Porsenna,  had  again  stirred  up  Latium  to  revolt.  All  the  chiefs 
met  there  in  single  combat,  and  perished  or  were  wounded.  The 
gods  even,  as  in  Homeric  times,  took  part  in  this  last  strife. 
During  the  action  two  young  warriors  of  high  stature,  mounted 
on  white  horses,  fought  at  the  head  of  the  legions,  and  were  the 
first  to  cross  the  enemy's  entrenchments ;  when  the  dictator,  Aulus 
Postumius,  wished  to  give  them  the  siege  crown,  the  collars  of 
gold  and  rich  presents  promised  to  those  who  should  first  have 
entered  the  enemies'  camp,  they  had  disappeared ;  but  on  the  same 
evening  two  heroes  were  seen  at  Rome,  covered  with  blood  and 
dust,  who  washed  their  arms  at  the  fountain  of  Juturna.'^  and 
announced  the  victory  to  the  people ;  they  were  the  Dioscuri, 
Castor  and  Pollux.  In  order  that  their  presence  in  the  midst  of 
the  Roman  army  might  not  be  doubted,  for  centuries  the  gigantic 

1  Between  tlie  Etruscan  and  Latin  wars  tradition  places  a  war  against  tlie  Sabincs,  which 
must  have  lasted  four  years,  from  505  to  501,  and  during  whicli  tlie  Sabine  Attus  Clausus 
(Appius  Claudius),  a  rich  citizen  of  Regillus.  who  had  been  ailverse  to  the  hostilities,  had 
emigrated  to  liouie,  where  he  was  received  into  tlie  Senate,  and  his  family  took  a  place 
amongst  the  new  patrician  f/entes. 

'^  M.  Pietro  thinks  he  has  found  Lake  Regillus  in  a  dried-up  marsh,  !l  Pnntatio,  15  or  16 
miles  on  the  way  to  Talestrina,  south  of  the  hill  occupied  by  the  village  In  Cnlonna. 

'  This  fountain  never  dries,  but  at  jiresent  it  flows  underground.  It  was  this  which  fed 
what  was  called   Lake  Curtius.     The  temple  of  Castor  was  close  by. 

VOL.   I.  12 


178 


EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


impression  of  the  foot  of  a  horse  was  shown  in  the  rock  on  the 
field  of  battle,  and  Rome,  which  took  j^ride  in  representing  itself 
as  the   object    of   the    constant    solicitude   of    the    gods,  consecrated 


THE  THREE  COLUMNS  OF  THE  TEMPLE  OK  CASTOR.^ 


this  legend  by  raising  a  temple   to  the   divine   sons    of  Zeus    and 
Leda,  which  became  one  of  the  most  celebrated  in  the  city. 

The  victory  was  a  bloody  one.  On  the  side  of  the  Romans, 
three  Valerii,  Herminius,  the  companion  of  Codes,  Aebutius,  the 
master  of  the  horse,  were  left  on  the  field  of  battle  or  quitted  it 
wounded.     On  the    side    of   the  Latins,  Oct.  Mamilius,  the  dictator 

^  The  t«3m])le  of  Castor  anil  Pollux,  in  wliich  the  Senate  often  assembled,  In  aerie  Cnstoj'ifi, 
cdcberrimo  clarissimoqne  monumento  (Cie.,  in  Verr.  II.  i.  49)  begun  by  Postumius  and  finished 
by  his  son,  was  rebuilt  on  the  same  spot  under  Augustus  and  Tiberius.  The  three  magnificent 
columns  which  remain  of  it  date  from  this  latter  epoch. 


TRADITIONAL   HISTORY  OF  THE  KINGS.  179 

of  Alba,  and  Titus,  the  last  son  of  Tarquin,  fell.     The  old  King 


THE  niOScrRI  WATEE-  AULCS    POSTUMIUS, 

ISG   THEIR   HORSES  AT  XHE  CONQUEBOE    OF 
THE   FOUNTAIN    OF  JU-  THE    LATINS. ^ 

TURNA.^ 


COIN   COMMEMORATIVE  OF   THE  BATTLE 
OF   LAKE  REGILHJS.3 


COIN   OF  TOE 
GENS    MAMILIA.* 


himself,   struck   with   a   blow   of    a    lance,    only   survived    all    his 


SUPPOSED    TOMB    OF    THE    TARQUINS." 

race  and  his  hopes,  to  finish  his  miserable  old  age  at  the  court  of 
the  tyrant  of  Cumae,  Aristodemus  (496   b.  c). 

*  Silver  coin  of  the  Albini,  descendants  of  Postumius. 

^  It  was  a  descendant  of  A.  Postumius  who  had  this  silver  medal  struck.  The  portrait 
is  certainly  no  true  likeness ;  but  all  the  jiatrieians  ke])t  the  images  of  their  ancestors  in  the 
atrium  of  their  house,  and  the  coin  may  have  been  fairly  accurate.  Besides,  we  ought  to 
do  for  figured  Roman  antiquity  what  we  have  done  for  its  history  ;  I  mean  that  we  cannot 
ignore  the  way  in  which  the  Romans  represented  their  ancestors,  any  more  than  omit  the 
legends  which  were  all,  great  and  small,  considered  as  historic  truth. 

*  The  descendants  of  the  Dictator  caused  a  coin  to  be  struck  in  remembrance  of  his  vic- 
tory, representing  the  head  of  Diana  on  the  obverse ;  on  the  reverse  three  knights  trampling  a 
hostile  soldier  under  the  feet  of  their  horses. 

*  This  gens  claimed  to  be  descended  from  Ulysses,  and  put  the  likeness  of  this  prince  on 
their  coins. 

^  The  sepulchral  cave  of  the  Tarquins  has  jjcrhaps  been  found  in  our  days  at  Caere. 
Their  Etruscan  name,  Tarchnas,  is  inscribed  thirty-five  times  on  the  walls  of  this  tomb,  —  a  fact 


180 


ROME   UNDER   THE    KINGS. 


The  Tarquins  are  dead ;  the  founders  of  the  Republic  have  one 
after  the  other  disappeared ;  the  time  of  heroes  and  legends  is 
past :   that  of  the  people  and  of  history  begins. 

which,  however,  is  not  sufficient  for  us  to  be  able  to  affirm  that  this  sepulchral  chamber  is  that 
of  the  Tarquins  of  Rome. 

'  Large  bronze  of  Aatonine ;  the  wolf  on  the  left,  the  Tiber  on  the  right. 


ROME    SEATED    UPON    TIIE    SEVEN    HILLS.^ 


CHAPTER  II. 


CONSTITUTION  OF  ROME  DTJEING  THE  EEGAL  PERIOD- 
PRIMITIVE  ORGANIZATION. 


I.  —  Sources  of  Roman  History. 


COIN  COMMEMORATIVE  OF  THE 
TREATY  WITH  THE  GABII.^ 


THE  influence  which  Greek  exercised  over  Latin  literature 
extended  to  the  history  of  Rome :  we  have  ah'eady  seen 
some  proofs  of  it,  and  we  shall  see  many  more.  The  use  of 
writing,  however,  was  not  so  rare  in  ancient  Italy  as  has  been 
asserted.  If  we  reject,  as  we  are  bound, 
the  discovery  of  the  books  of  Numa,  it 
is  nevertheless  true  that  the  treaty  with 
Carthage  in  509,  b.  c,  the  original  of 
which  Polybius  read,  the  treaty  with 
Gabii,^  that  of  Spurius  Cassius  with  the 
Latins,  which  Cicero^  saw,  the  royal 
laws  collected  after  the  departure  of  the  Gauls,*  show  that  writing 
was  employed,  during  the  regal  period,  at  least  for  public  acts  and 
to  preserve  the  memory  of  important  events. 

All  around  Rome,  the  nations  had  also  monuments  of  their 
national  life.  At  the  time  of  Varro  there  still  existed  Etruscan 
histories  written  about  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  before 
our  era.  Cumae  had  its  historians,^  and  each  city  its  annals 
engraved  on  sheets  of  lead,  tables  of  brass,  planks  of  oak,  (ir 
written  on  linen,  as  at  Anagnia  and  Praeneste.  There  is  no 
doubt     that     the     nation     of     the    Volscians,     so     long    powerful. 


*  Coin  of  Antisthis  Yctiis.  On  the  obverse,  head  of  Augustus  with  the  indication  of  his 
8th  tribunitia  pntestas :  on  the  re\erse,  two  fetials  sacrificing  a  pig  on  a  burning  altar,  and  the 
words:  FOED  (us)  C^^M  GABINIS,  Treaty  with  the  Gabini.  '^  Dionys.,  iv.  58.  s  Pro.  C. 
Ballm,  23;  cf.  Dionys.,  iv.  2il.     ^  Livy,  vi.  1.     ^  Festus,  s.  v.  Ramam. 


182 


EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


possessed    written    monuments,    as    well    as    the    Hernici    and    the 

Latins ;  Dionysius  makes  men- 
tion of  their  war-songs,  Silius 
of  those  of  the  Sabines,  and 
Vergil,  who  was  as  erudite 
as  the  learned  Varro  in  the 
affairS|_pf  ancient  Italy,  speaks 
of  the  national  songs  of  the 
prisci  Latini. 

Inscriptions  on  bronze  and 
on  stone,  memorials,  names 
attached  to  monuments  and 
places,  as  the  Sister's  Post, 
the  via  Scelerata,  and  oral 
traditions  which  lived  in  fami- 
lies, might  aid  researches  into 
their  primitive  history.  But 
the  most  ancient  of  Roman 
annalists  lived  at  the  time 
when  Rome,  the  mistress  of 
Italy,  entered  into  relations 
with  Greece  ;  they  were 
dazzled  by  the  brilliancy  of 
Hellenic  literature,  and,  mis- 
understanding the  importance 
of  native  documents,  which 
were  extremely  meagre,  they 
became  the  pupils  of  those 
whom  they  had  just  subdued. 
There  was  then,  as  it  were,  a 
double  conquest  made,  in  different  directions.  Tlie  Greeks  became 
subjects  of  Rome,  the  Romans  the  disciples  of  Greece ;  and  the 
Etruscan  education  of  young  patricians  was  replaced  by  Greek 
education,  —  the  journey  to  Caere  by  the  journey  to  Athens.^     Even 

'  [These  alphabets  are  taken  (by  F.  Lenorninnt)  from  the  Priscae  Latinila/is  Mon.  Epi- 
grapha,  and  represent  the  writing  of  the  latter  5th,  the  6th,  and  the  7th  (Augustan)  centuries 
A.  u.  c.  —  Ed.'] 

'^  Livy,  ix.  36  :  Ilabeo  auctores  rulrjn  Ivm  (in  the  fifth  century  of  Rome)  Romanus  pueros 
sicut  nunc  Graecis,  ita  Eiruscis  I'Uteris  erudiri  aolitos. 


A/\A 

A/\ 

A 

B  B 

B 

B 

<  C 

C 

C 

D 

D 

D 

^Ell 

E  II 

E 

f^FI' 

F  1' 

F 

G 

G 

H 

H 

H 

1 

1 

I 

K  1= 

K 

K 

V 

l/L 

L 

N\  A/V 

A/VMM 

M 

N  N 

A^N 

N 

600 

0 

O 

r  p 

P  P 

P 

1  a 

a 

o 

p  P 

R 

R 

<  s 

s 

S 

T 

T 

T 

V 

V 

V 

X 

X 

X 

EARLY   ROMAN    (lATIN)    ALPHABETS.^ 


PRIMITIVE    ORGANIZATION.  183 

long  before  the  Romans  thonglit  of  Athens,  the  influence  of  Greece 
had  made  itself  felt  in  the  centre  of  Italy,  among  the  Etruscans, 
and  even  in  Rome.  The  Sibylline  books  were  written  in  Greek, 
and  the  ambassador  from  Rome  to  the  Tarentines  spoke  to  them 
in  that  language. 

By  a  singular  freak  it  was  from  the  Greeks  that  the 
Romans  learned  their  history :  I  mean  that  history  which  the 
Greeks  made  for  them.  The  epic  character  which  the  influence 
of  Homer  and  Hesiod  had  given  to  the  narrative  prose  of  the 
Hellenes,  passed  into  the  writings  of  the  annalists  of  Rome. 
Two  of  her  first  historians,  Ennius  and  Naevius,  were  epic  poets  ; 
Dionysius  said  of  their  works :  "  They  resemble  those  of 
the  Greek  annalists ; "  and  he  added  concerning  Cato,  C.  Sem- 
pronius,  etc.  :  "  They  followed  Greek  story."  Tacitus  and  Strabo 
reproached  them  with  the  same  tiling.^  Thus  the  nations  of 
Western  Europe  forgot  in  the  Middle  Ages  their  true  origin  for 
the  pedantic  reminiscences  of  ancient  literature :  the  Franks 
said  they  were  descended  from  a  son  of  Hector ;  the  Bretons, 
from  Brutus ;  and  Rheims  had  been  founded  by  Remus. 

On  the  origin  of  Rome  and  of  Romidus,  there  are  in  Plut- 
arch no  less  than  twelve  different  traditions,  almost  all  of  which 
bear  the  stamp  of  Greek  imagination ;  and  the  one  which  he 
preferred  as  being  the  most  widespread  was  only  the  story  of  a 
Greek,  Diodes  of  Peparethos,  followed  by  a  soldier  from  the 
Second  Punic  War.  Fabius  Pictor,  the  oldest  of  Roman  annalists 
and  the  first  ambassador  from  Rome  into  Greece. 

The  organization,  however,  bemg  altogether  religious,  and  as  the 
priests  were  at  every  moment  interfering  in  public  affairs,  the  pontiffs 
were  concerned  in  keeping  up  the  memory  of  events  as  accurately 
as  possible.  Thus  the  Romans  had  the  Annals  of  the  Pontiffs,^  or 
Annales  Maximi,  the  Fasti  Magistratimm,  the  Fasti  Triumphales, 
the  rolls  of  the  censors,  etc.  But  these  annals  were  so  laconic 
that  they  opened  a  wide  field  to  interpretations  and  fables.  More- 
over, being  written   down   from    day  to  day,   in  order  to    preserve 

btrabo,  III.  VI.  19  :   01   St   twv  'Poi^ialtov  trvy-yparpus  fii^ovm-ai  fifv  tovs  "EXXr^r'as'.      Dionys. 
I.  i  1  :  'EWj]viK(a  re  fivdco  xp^''^!^^""'-     [This  agrees  with  ilommsen's  view  o£  the  antiquity  of 
writing  in  Italy,  —  a  theory  strongly  corroborated  by  the  recent  discovery  of  the  old  Phoenician 
alphabet,  with  its  samech  and  tsadde  on  vases  at  Caere  and  elsewhere.  —  Ed.'] 
2  Cicero,  de  Oral.  ii.  12,  and  Fest.,  s.  v.  Maxuiius  and  Servius  ad  Aen.  i.  373. 


184  EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

the  memory  of  treaties,  the  names  of  magistrates  and  of  important 
events,  they  only  went  back  to  the  period  when  established 
Roman  society  felt  the  simple  need  of  rendering  an  account  to 
itself  of  its  acts  and  of  its  engagements  with  its  neighbors. 
Beyond,  there  is  nothing  but  mythological  darkness ;  and  this  was 
the  open  field  in  which  the  imagination  of  the  Greeks  was  exer- 
cised. They  laid  hold  of  this  period  and  filled  it  up  to  suit  their 
interests.  Now  in  their  own  history  they  had  preserved  hardly 
any  great  record  of  ancient  times,  except  that  of  the  contest 
against  Troy.  With  this  event  they  connected  the  first  history 
of  Italy.  It  was  towards  Italy  that  they  led  the  Trojan  chiefs, 
escaped  from  the  sack  of  the  city,  or  the  Greek  heroes  driven 
away  from  their  homes  by  tempest,  and  each  Italian  town  of  any 
importance  had  as  founder  a  hero  of  one  of  the  two  races.  Let 
us  note  that  the  Greeks  also  found  an  advantage  in  this  double 
manner  of  connecting  Italy  and  Rome  with  their  history,  by  their 
own  colonies,  and  by  the  Trojan  settlements,  by  Evander  and 
Aeneas,  by  Ulysses  and  Antenor.  To  go  back  to  Troy,  was,  for 
the  Greeks,  to  go  back  to  an  epoch  of  glory  and  power ;  and, 
moreover,  in  ennobling  through  these  legends  the  beginnings  of  Rome 
and  of  tlie  Latins,  the  Greeks  avenged  themselves  indirectly  in 
exhibiting  this  city  and  nation  formed  by  fugitives  escaped  from 
the  victorious  sword  of  the  Hellenes.  It  was  not  derogatoiy  for 
Rome  to  accept  this  origin.  Troy  was  the  greatest  name  of 
antiquity,  the  most  powerful  state  of  the  ancient  world ;  her 
reputation  was  immense,  and  at  the  same  time  it  could  not 
wound  their  pride,  for  Troy  was  long  since  destroyed.  Moreover, 
she  was  the  enemy  of  Greece.  Rome  would  not  so  willingly  have 
allowed  it  to  be  said  that  she  sprang  from  Macedonia,  Sparta,  or 
Athens,  which  were  of  recent  celebrity.  We  are  not  jealous  of  the 
glorious  dead;  to  be  their  heirs  is  a  new  title  to  fame. 

From  the  time  of  the  First  Punic  War  the  belief  in  the 
Trojan  descent  of  the  Romans  was  current,  as  is  seen  in  the 
inscription  of  Duillius,  in  which  the  Egestans,  who  were  con- 
sidered as  a  Trojan  colony,  are  called  cognati  2)02Mli  Romani.  After 
Cynoscephalae,  one  of  the  first  cares  of  Flamininus,  who  was 
anxious  not  to  pass  for  a  barbarian,  was  to  set  up  at  Delphi  an 
inscription   which   called   the   Romans   the  race  of  Aeneas.     When 


PKIMITIVE  ORGAJS^IZATION.  185 

the  Julian  house  had  seized  the  Empire,  this  belief  became  an 
article  of  political  faith ;  and,  following  the  example  of  the 
Romans,  the  Italians  eagerly  laid  claim  to  this  origin ;  Trojan 
genealogies  were  bought,  just  as,  in  the  last  century,  our  fathers 
bt)ught  marquisates ;  and  in  the  time  of  Dionysius  ^  fifty  Roman 
families,  the  Trojugenae,  claimed  descent  frojn  the  companions  of 
Aeneas.  Moreover,  even  if  Aeneas  should  truly  have  settled  in 
Latium,  as  he  came  there,  according  to  the  most  ancient  tradition, 
with  only  a  single  vessel  and  a  small  number  of  Trojans,  this 
fact  would  be  of  importance  only  to  the  vanity  of  certain  families, 
of  none  to  the  civilization  of  the  country. 


II.   Probable  Origin  of  Rome. 

All  great  nations  have  surrounded  their  cradle  with  mar- 
vellous tales.  In  Egypt  the  reign  of  gods  and  demi-gods 
preceded  that  of  man.  In  Persia,  Dschemschid  opens  the  bosom 
of  the  earth  with  a  golden  sickle  and  drives  away  the  Djinns. 
At  ■  Troy,  Apollo  and  Neptune  buUt  the  walls  of  the  city  of 
Priam  with  their  own  hands.  Rome  desired  to  have  a  no  less 
noble  origin ;  her  obscure  birth  was  hidden  under  brilliant 
fictions,  and  the  head  of  a  band  of  adventurers  became  the  son 
of  the  god  Mars,  a  grandson  of  the  King  of  Alba,  a  descendant 
of  Aeneas.  If  this  is  objected  to  in  the  name  of  historic  truth, 
Livy  replies  by  right  of  victory.  "  Such,"  says  he  with  a  proud 
majesty  of  style,  "  such  is  the  glory  of  the  Roman  people  in  war, 
that  when  they  choose  to  proclaim  the  god  Mars  as  their  father, 
as  the  father  of  then-  founder,  other  nations  must  suffer  it  with 
the  same  resignation  as  they  suffer  our  sway."  ^  From  this  strange 
idea  of  the  rights  of  the  historian,  it  followed  that  facts  were  to 

1  Ant.  Rom.  i.  85. 

^  In  his  preface  Cicero  (c/e  Rep.  ii.  2)  also  says :  Concedamua  famae  hominum ;  and 
fiirtber  on :  Ut  a  fahulis  ad  facta  veniamus.  "  We  must  not  blame,"  says  he,  "  those 
who,  recognizing  a  divine  genius  in  the  benefactors  of  the  nation,  wished  to  attribute  to  them  a 
divine  origin."  These  are  singular  rules  of  criticism.  I^et  us  add,  in  order  to  show  the  diffi- 
culties wliich  render  the  work  of  moderns  so  arduous,  that  we  have  lost  the  most  ancient 
historians  of  Rome,  Diodes  of  Peparethos,  Fabius  Pictor,  the  Annale.f  oi  Ennius,  the  Origines 
of  Cato,  the  history  of  Cassius  Hemina ;  and  let  us  add  that  Livy,  Dionysius  of  HaUcarnassus, 
and  Plutarch,  who  had  these  works  before  them,  rarely  a<Tree. 


186  ■  EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

the  great  annalist  of  Rome  like  the  subjects  which  in  school  are 
proposed  for  recitations  and  essays,  and  whicli  savor  far  more  of 
rhetoric  than  of  the  battle-field  or  the  Forum.  It  is  a  veil 
covered  with  charming  embroidery,  whicli  must  be  respectfully 
raised  in  order  to  find  the  fragments  of  truth  hidden  behind  it. 

Of  these  traditions  the  least  improbable  is  the  rape  of  the 
Sabine  women, — a  practice  very  common  in  the  heroic  age.  This 
violence  agrees  well  with  tlte  history  of  the  jalace  of 
refuge :  according  as  the  outlaws  of  the  Palatine 
Hill  carried  off  women,  unions  were  arranged.  Ab- 
duction was,  moreover,  the  primitive  form  of 
marriage,  and  the  recollection  of  it  was  preserved 
SABINE  WOMEN '  "^  ^^^^  uuptlal  ceremonics  until  the  last  days  of 
Pagan  Rome.^  But  the  fact  of  the  rape  of  the 
Sabines  cannot  be  reconciled  with  the  legend  that  Rome  was  an 
Alban  colony;  for  according  to  this  it  would  have  had  the  con- 
nuhium,  or  right  of  marriage,  with  its  mother  city,  and  no  one 
would  have  dared  to  reject  the  alliance  of  the  dominant  race. 
Moreover,  the  violent  character  of  ancient  Rome  has  been  ex- 
aggerated, by  making  it  a  sort  of  intrenched  camp,  from  which 
pillage  and  warfare  ever  issued.  This  was  one  consequence  of 
the  idea  that  the  town  had  been  founded  by  a  troop  of  bandits. 
The  severity  of  the  first  Roman  institutions,  the  patriciate,  and 
the  political  and  religious  privileges  of  the  noliility,  do  not  agree 
with  this  tradition  of  a  mob  collected  at  random,  and  long  given 
up  to  all  kinds  of  disorder. 

We  do  not  wish  to  reject  the  idea  of  the  existence  of  Romu- 
lus ;  though  the  hymns,  still  sung  in  the  time  of  Augustus,  which 
preserved  the  poetic  history  of  the  first  king  of  Rome,  appear  to 
us  nothing  but  a  legend,  such  as  all  ancient  nations  have  had,  and 
the  counterpart  of  which  it  would  l)e  easy  to  find  in  other 
national  traditions.  Thus  Semiramis,  like  Romulus,  is  the  child 
of  a   goddess ;    like  him,  and    like    Cyrus,  who   was    exposed   in   a 

1  L.  TITVRI.     Silver  coin  of  one  Sabinus  Titurius. 

^  The  bride  was  carried,  as  it  were,  by  force  from  her  father's  house,  and  it  was  customary 
to  hft  her  over  the  threshold  of  her  husband's  house.  The  latter  practice  stiU  exists  in  a  few 
villages  in  England,  where  it  may  have  been  introduced  b\'  the  Romans ;  but  it  is  usual  in 
China  (Dennis,  The  Fnlk-lotv  nf  Cliiiiii)  and  with  the  Esfiuiniaux,  which  weakens  the  proof 
that  might  be  thence  adduced  in  favor  of  the  legend  of  the  Sabines. 


PRIMITIVE    ORGANIZATION.  187 

forest  and  suckled  by  a  bitch/  she  is  abandoned  in  the  desert, 
f(Ml  by  doves,  and  picked  up  by  a  shepherd  of  the  king.  Her 
history,  too,  is  blood}*.  As  Romulus  kills  his  brother,  she  causes 
the  death  of  her  husband,  and  after  a  long  reign  she  disappears  ; 
but  some  saw  her  ascend  to  heaven,  and  her  people  paid  her  divine' 
honors.  Nearer  Rome,  in  Latium  itself,  Caeculus,  son  of  Vulcan 
and  founder  of  Praeneste,  is  abandoned  after  his  birth,  and  brought 
up  by  wild  beasts.  In  order  to  people  his  city,  which  remained 
empt}-,  he  called  together  the  neighboring  nations  to  solemn 
games  ;  and  when  they  came  together  from  all  parts,  flames  sur- 
rounded the  assembly.  In  the  Sabine  country,  Medius  Fidius,  or 
Sancus,  who  became  the  national  god  of  the  Sabines,  was  also 
born  of  a  virgin  who  was  surprised  by  Mars  Enyalius  in  a  temple 
of  Reate ;  and,  like  Romulus,  he  had  founded  a  town,  Cures,  which 
m  tradition  is  the  second  metropolis  of  Rome.  These  legends, 
which  are  found  as  far  as  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  in  the  story 
of  Chandragupta,  were,  with  many  others,  the  common  inheritance 
of  the  Aryan  race. 

We  may  regard  Romulus,  who  may  be  connected  with  the 
ro3-al  house  of  Alba,^  to  have  been  only  one  of  those  warlike 
chiefs  such  as  both  ancient  and  modern  Italy  have  produced,  and 
who  became  the  king  of  a  people  to  whom  the  position  of  Rome,^ 
fortunate  circumstances,  and  the  ability  of  its  aristocracy  gave 
the  empire  of  the  world. 

"Numerous  testimonies*  prove  that,  long  before  Romulus  traced 
a  furrow  round  the  Palatine,  that  hill  was  inhabited.  There  was, 
therefore,  a  Latin  city  there,  the  town  on  the  Tiber,  Ruma, 
having  the  manners  and  laws  of  Latium  and  of  the  Sabine 
country,   the    patriciate,   paternal    authority,   patronage,    clientship, 

1  Paris  by  a  she-bear,  Telephus  by  a  hind,  etc.  This  kind  of  legend  was  extremely  wide- 
spread in  ancient  times,  and  sprang  up  again  in  the  Middle  Ages :  Genevieve  of  Brabant,  etc. 

^  In  the  legend,  he  is  the  grandson  and  sole  heir  of  Xumitor.  He  does  not,  however, 
succeed  him,  and  the  family  of  Sylvius  is  replaced  on  the  throne  of  Alba  by  a  new  family,  by 
Cliiilius,  king  or  dictator.  Rome  is  called  a  colony  of  Alba,  and  yet  there  is  no  alliance  between 
the  two  towns,  and  the  modern  city  does  not  defend  its  colony  against  the  Sabines,  etc. 

3  "Place  Rome  at  another  point  of  Italy,"  says  Cicero  (rfe  Rep.  ii.  5),  "and  her  rule 
becomes  almost  impossible." 

*  Roma  ante  Romulum  fuit  ct  ah  ea  sihi  Rumulum  nomen  adquis'wkse  Marianm  Ltipercali- 
oriim  poela  ostendil.  (Philargyr.,  ad  Verg.,  Eel.  i.  -20.)  None  but  towns  founded  in  entirety 
and  on  a  precise  day  by  a  roloni/  have  a  certain  date.  The  others  have  been  at  first  hamlets, 
villages,  and  burghs.      "With  London  or  Paris,  when  did  the  hamlet  begin  ? 


188 


EOME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


a  senate,  and  perhaps  a  king,  —  in  short,  a  truly  political  and 
religious  organization,  already  ancient,  and  which  Romulus,  himself 
a  Latin,  only  adopted.  He  may  have  come  to  establish  liimseK 
victoriously  there  with  his  band,^  the  Celsi  Ramnenses,  giving  the 
ancient  town  a  new  appearance  and  more  warlike  manners.  On 
this  ground  he  may  have  passed  for  its  founder,  and  liis  com- 
panions  for  the    heads    of   patrician   houses.       Is    not    tliu    nobility 


ANCIENT    SUBSTRUCTIONS    OF    THE    PALATIXE." 


of  England,  so  powerful   and  so  proud,  [in   great  part]   descended 
from  the  adventurers  who  followed  William  of  Normandy  ? 

In  spite  of  Niebuhr's  disdain,  sometimes  so  harshly  expressed, 
for  those  who  seek  historic  facts  in  these  ancient  legends,  we 
may  allow  the  abduction  of  certain  Sabine  women  by  the  Celsi 
Ramnenses,^  and  the  occupation,  effected  by  a  convention,  of   the 

'  Festus  (s.  V.  Ver  sacrum  and  Mamertini)  attributes  the  origin  of  Rome  to  a  sacred 
spring-time.     There  is  always  the  idea  of  an  occupation  of  the  Palatine  by  an  armed  troop. 
^  Atlas  of  the  Bull.  arche'oL,  vol.  v.  pi.  39. 
*  In  the  most  ancient  of  the  Roman  historians,  Fabius,  the  number  of  the  Sabine  women 


PRIMITIVE   ORGANIZATION.  189 

Capitoline  and  Quirinal  by  the  Sabines  of  Cures.^  The  two  towns 
remained  separate,  but  the  people  met  in  the  plain  between  the 
three  hills.  Circumstances,  which  legend  explains  to  suit  itself, 
led  to  the  union,  under  a  single  chief,  of  the  two  burghs  estab- 
lished on  the  Palatine  and  Capitol.  In  whatever  manner  this 
alliance  was  produced,  history  must  yield  to  the  Sabines  a  consider- 
able and  probably  preponderant  part  in  the  formation  of  the 
Eoman  people. 

But  if  we  cannot  pierce  this  veil  of  poetry  which  hides  the 
real  facts,  let  us  study  the  institutions  which  ancient  manners  and 
circumstances  produced.  This  we  can  do,  for  these  customs  lasted 
into  the  historic  age ;  and  as  Cuvier  from  a  few  broken  bones  re- 
constructed extinct  creatures,  we  may  reconstruct,  with  the  help  of 
ancient  remains,  that  society  of  which  legends  give  us  only  in- 
teresting but  deceptive  pictures. 


III.   Patricians  and  Clients. 

Rome  had  no  single  legislator,  as  the  Greek  cities  had.  Its  con- 
stitution was  the  work  of  time,  circumstances,  and  many  men.  Hence 
arise  numberless  uncertainties.  The  most  ancient  traditions  show 
the  people  divided  into  three  Tribus,  the  Ramnenses^  or  companions 
of  Romulus,  the  Titienses,  or  Sabines  of  Tatius,  and  the  Luceres, 
whose  origin  is  referred  to  an  Etruscan  chief,  Lucumo,^  who  may 
have  come  with  a  numerous  band  to  aid  Romulus  in  building  his 
city  and  in  gaining  his  first  victories.  But  the  political  inferiority 
of  this  last  tribe,  which  at  first  had  neither  senators  nor  vestals, 
would  imply  a  conquered  population,  perhaps  the  ancient  inhabit- 

carriej  off  is  only  thirty.  Valerius  Antias  counts  as  many  as  five  hundred  and  twenty-seven, 
and  Juba  six  hundred  and  three. 

'  The  lance  (quir)  was  the  national  weapon  of  the  Sabines,  and  the  symbol  of  their 
principal  divinity;  hence  the  names  of  Cures,  Quirites,  Quirina!,  and  Quiriiuis,  and  perhaps  of 
(.'uria.  The  two  tribes  together  were  called  Populun  Romnnus  Quirites,  omitting,  according  to 
the  use  of  the  old  Latin  tongue,  the  conjunction  ct.  This  became  afterward  Populus  Bomanus 
Qiiirilium. 

-  C'elsi  Ramnenses  (for  Romanenses),  or,  as  Dionys.  says  (ix.  44),  KaOapwraxr)  (jjvXrj. 

'  Cic,  de  Rep.  ii.  8 ;  Fest.,  s.  v.  Lucerenses,  from  Lucerus,  king  of  Ardea ;  according  to 
others  from  lucus,  the  wood  of  refuge.  In  that  case  the  Luceres  would  be  those  who  had  taken 
refuge. 


190  ■  ROME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

ants  of  the  town  may  have  remained  until  the  time   of   Tarquin 
under  the  yoke  of  conquest. 

The  tribe  was  divided  into  ten  curiae,  each  curia  into  ten 
DECURIAE ;  and  these  divisions,  which  were  also  territorial  and 
military,  ^  had  their  chiefs,  —  tribunes,  curiones,  and  decuriones. 

In  each  tribe  were  included  a  certain  number  of  political 
families,  or  gentes,  which  were  not  composed  of  men  only  of  the 
same  blood,  l^ut  also  of  men  connected  by  mutual  obligations, 
by  the  worship  of  a  hero  venerated  as  a  common  ancestor  {sacra 
gentilUia),  or  by  the  right  of  inheriting  one  from  another  in  the 
absence  of  a  will  or  of  natural  heirs,  ^  —  a  right  which  reminds 
us  that,  in  the  Ijeginning,  property  had  been  common.  Thus 
they  were  enabled  to  reduce  to  a  small  figure  the  number  of  these 
political  families,  —  200  at  first,  afterward  300,  —  and  to  allow  only 
3,000  citizens  to  the  city  of  Romulus ;  but  we  must  admit  that 
these  figures,  like  the  English  words  hundred,  titldng,  were  not 
a  strictly  exact  arithmetical  expression.  Moreover  by  these  3,000 
citizens   of    original    Rome    the    patricians    alone    are    understood. 

Now  to  these  heads  of  the  gentes  were 
attached  numerous  clients.  In  tradition  the 
gens  Appia  mnnbers  5,000,  the  gens  Falna 
4,000,  and  Coriolanus  could  form  a  complete 
COIN  OF  THE  GENS  FABiA.       amiy  of  lus  trlbc.     Let  us  accept  300  as  the 

number  of  patrician  houses,  allowing  for  each 
house  an  average  of  100  clients,  and  we  shall  have  a  popula- 
tion of  more  than  30,000.  Even  were  these  numbers  purely 
imaginary,  the  gens  would  none  the  less  be  the  basis  of  the 
primitive  organization  of  Rome,  as  it  has  been  among  many 
nations.  However  far  we  trace  back  the  course  of  history,  we 
find  in  the  family,  natural  or  fictitious,  the  primordial  elements 
of  society.  The  Greek  yevr),  the  Scottish  clans,  the  Irish 
septs,    answer   to    the   Roman   gentes;    and   the    same    organization 

1  Varro  (de  Ling.  Lai.  v.  35)  speaks  of  a  threefold  division  of  territory  for  the  three 
tribes;  Dionys.  (ii.  7)  of  a  division  into  thirty  allotments  for  the  thirty  curiae. 

2  Instead  of  fjcns,  genus  is  sometimes  found,  which  clearly  explains  the  word  gens. 
Thus  Cilnium  genus  (Livy,  x.  3-5).  Cf.  Aulus  Gellius,  xv.  27:  Pollux,  viii.  9;  Harpocration, 
s.  v.  Tevvfirat.  Paul  Diac.  (p.  94)  also  says  :  Genlilis  dicilur  ct  ex  enilem  genere  ortus  et  is 
qxd  simili  nomine  appellalur.  Ciiens  or  cluens,  from  dueo,  means  he  who  hears  and  who 
obeys. 


PEIMITIVE   OEGANIZATION.  191 

is  met  iu  Frieslaud,  among  llie  Ditmarses,  the  Albanians, 
Slavs,  etc. 

In  Algeria  the  Arab  douar  and  the  Kabyl  dechera  resemble 
the  Roman  genu,  the  sheikh  or  amin  represents  the  i^aterfamilias, 
and  the  chiefs  of  the  douars  and  decheras,  like  the  patres  at 
the  curia,  discuss  at  their  jemaa  the  interests  of  the  families 
they  represent.  Studied  more  closely,  history  shows  that  customs 
long  looked  upon  as  peculiar  to  certain  peoples  and  certain 
ejtochs  have  been  general  institutions,  and  represent  the  stages 
lunnanity  has  travelled. 

Thus  the  gens  united  all  its  members  by  a  bond  of  relation- 
ship, real  or  fictitious.  The  curia  was  this  same  family  en- 
larged, and  the  tribe  was  a  similar  one,  only  more  complete. 
Each  curia  had  its  days  of  feasts  and  sacrifices,  its  priests  and 
tutelary  gods.  Religion  united  still  more  closely  those  whom 
ties  of  blood  or  social  position  already  connected.  The  whole 
Roman  state  rested  on  this  basis  of  family,  and  had  the  same 
strict  discipline. 

The  members  of  a  gens  were  divided,  we  said,  into  two 
classes,  —  those  who  belonged  to  it  l)y  right  of  blood,  and  those 
who  had  become  associated  with  it  by  certain  engagements. 

The  former,  the  patroni  or  patricians,^  were  the  sovereign 
people,  to  whom  everything  belonged,  and  who  had  the  two 
great  outward  signs  which  marked  the  nolnlity  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  family  names  and  armorial  bearings,  —  I  mean  the  jus  im- 
aginum,  speaking  devices,  which  were  far  more  proud  and  im- 
po§ing  than  all  the  feudal  coats  of  arms,  since  it  seemed  as 
though  the  ancestors  themselves,  clad  in  their  insignia  of  office, 
guarded  the  entrances  of  patrician  houses.  In  funeral  ceremonies, 
individuals  recalling  in  features^  and  form  the  persons  whom  it 
was  desired  to  represent,  assumed  the  costume  and  "honors" 
that  these  latter  had  worn,  thus  surrounding  the  dead  patrician 
with  a  living  escort  of  his  ancestors.  In  later  times  they  had 
another  form  of  escutcheons,  the  representation  upon  coins  of 
the   objects    that    their    name   recalled.     Thus    Aquillius    Floras,    a 

*  Patricios  Cincuis  ail,  i/i  libra  de  ComitiU,  eos  appellari  solilos  qui  nunc  ingenui  vocenlur. 
(Fest.,  s.  V.  Patricias.) 

"  [Rather,  they  wore  the  wax  masks  taken  from  the  images  in  the  atrium.  —  Ed.'] 


192. 


ROME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


flower;  Quinctius  Miis,    a    mouse;  Voconius  Vitulus,   a   calf;  Pom- 
ponius    Musa,    the     nine    muses    on    nine    different    coins,    etc.,  — 

a  custom  infinitely  more  modest,  which 
ended  by  being  merely  a  play  of  wit, 
but  which  had  at  first  ser^-ed  to  recall 
heroic  acts,  —  as,  for  instance,  the  collar  of 
the  Manlii,  and  doubtless  the  hammer 
of  the  Publicii  and  the  axe  of  the 
Valerii. 

The  second  class  of  the  members 
of  the  gens  comprised  strangers  domiciled 
in  the  town,  the  prisoners  brought  to 
Rome,  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the 
land,  the  poor,  freed  slaves,  —  in  short, 
all  who  preferred  dependence  on  the 
great  and  strong,  with  their  protection, 
to  isolation  and  an  insecure  liberty. 
These  were  the  clients,  or  we  might  say 
vassals. 


UAT.'' 


PICKAXE.^ 


MALLET." 


COLLAR.' 


BULL." 


'  Coin  of  L.  A  quill  ills  Florus  III.  Vir  (monetary 
triumvir),  representing  on  tlie  reverse  a  large  full-blnwn 
flower  ;  an  aureus  of  Augustus. 

^  Q.  Voconms  Vitxdus.  Vitulus  means  a  calf ;  re- 
verse of  a  denarius  of  Caesar's  time. 

*  Pomponius  Musa.  Laurel-crowned  head  of  Muse ; 
behind,  a  buskin  ;  on  the  reverse,  Thalia  standing,  hold- 
ing a  eomie  mask.  Denarius  of  the  Pomponian  fam- 
ily. 

^  Ti.  Q.  Tiberius  Quinctius  Mus,  an  unknown  mem- 
ber of  the  family  Quinetia.  Silver  coin  representing 
a  rat,  in  Latin  m  iis,  beneath  some  horses  which  the  rider 
is  restraining  ;  on  the  exergue,  D.  S.  S.,  that  is,  de  Senattis 
sentetiiia,  struck  by  order  of  the  Senate. 

^  Acisculu!!,  hammer  in  a  crown  of  laurel.  The 
aclsculum  was  a  tool  (jtiu  utuntur  lapicidae  ad  excavandos 
lapides  (ForcelUni,  s.  v.).  Reverse  of  a  silver  coin  of 
the  Valerian  family. 

^  Head  of  Pallas,  .above,  a  m.allet,  malleolus ,  on  the 
reverse  C.   Mall.  (Cains  J\Lilleolus).     Naked  man  with 
his  foot  on  some  armor  ;  in  front,  an  anchor  ;  behind,  the  prow  of  a  vessel.     Denarius  of  the 
Poblician  family. 

'  L.  Torquat.  HI.  inr.     Tri])od  enclosed  in  a  collar,  torques  :  denarius  of  the  Manlii. 
^  L.  Thorius  Balbtis,  denaruis  of  the  Thorian  family.     Taurus  means  a  bull. 
'  P.  Accoleius  Lariscolus.     Bust  of  Clymene,  the  mother  of  Phaeton  ;  on  the  reverse,  the 
three  sisters  of  Phaeton  changed  into  larches  (lariz). 


WOMEN   CHANGED   INTO    TUEES.^ 


PKIMITIVE   ORGANIZATION.  193 

The  patrician,  or  patrox,  —  for  the  words  are  synonymous,  — 
gave  a  small  farm  to  his  client,  or,  in  defaiilt  of  land,  a  sportula, 
that  is  to  say,  a  certain  amount  of  provisions ; '  he  must  watch  over 
all  his  interests,  follow  his  suits,  aid  him  in  law-courts,  —  do  foi- 
him,  in  a  word,  what  the  father  does  for  his  children,  the  patron 
for  his  freedmen.  The  law  allowed  the  client  no  appeal  from 
his  patron ;  but  religion  consigned  the  patron  to  the  gods,  if 
he  did  any  wrong  to  him  whose  necessary  protector  he  was.^  The 
client,  on  his  part,  took  the  family  name  of  his  patron,  nomen 
gentilicium.,  and  when  he  died  received  shelter  in  his  tomlj ;  ^  he 
helped  him  to  pay  his  ransom,  his  fines,  his  law  expenses,  his 
daughter's  dowry,  and  even  the  expenses  necessary  to  fulfil  his 
functions  and  mamtain  the  dignity  of  his  rank.  It  was  forbidden 
them  to  summon  one  another  into  a  court  of  justice,  to  bear  witness 
or  to  vote  against  one  another ;  and  it  would  have  been  a  crime 
on  the  part  of  the  client  to  maintain  a  suit  against  his  patron. 
Clientship  was  then  a  considerable  diminution  of  the  liberty  of 
the  client,  and  for  him  a  semi-slavery.  Such  was,  in  fact,  the 
strength  of  this  bond  in  ancient  times,  that  if  the  patron  was 
exiled  or  quitted  his  country,  his  clients  followed  him  into  foreign 
lands.  But  in  390,  B.  c,  Camillus  set  out  alone  ;  the  bond  had 
slackened ;  some  years  later  it  was  on  tlie  point  of  breaking,  when 
Manlius  thought  that  his  words  would  be  obeyed  if  he  pro- 
posed to  the  clients  to  take  arms  against  their  patrons.*  At  this 
period  some  of  them  were  already  on  the  road  to  fortune  ;  a 
century  later  we  shall  see  them  advancing  to  power :  the  Marcelli, 
for  instance,  had  been  in  the  clientship  of  the  getis  Claudia. 
The  gens  then  loses  its  social  and  religious  character ;  but  consider- 
able traces  of  it  exist  up  to  the  time  of  Constantine.  With  the 
conquests  of  the  Republic,  patronage  extends  to  whole  towns  and 
nations ;  so  that  in  the  civil  wars  the  strength  of  the  chiefs  was 
thereby  greatly  increased.      Under  the  Empire  it  was  the  precious 


'  A  f/rnrum  paries  attribuehant  tenuioribwt  (Fest.,  s.  v.  pains),  proliabh-  on  the  same  eim- 
ilitions  that  the  state  imposed  upon  farmers  of  the  domain.  See  Appian,  Bell.  C'ir.  i.  7. 
Dionys.,  ii.  10 :  f^rjyeladai  to  Si/caia  .  .  .  This  is  the  principal  passage  on  clientship. 
The  nomination  to  a  curule  magistracy   in  later   times  broke   the   bond  of  clientship. 

-  Serv.,  ad  Aen.  vi.  609. 

'  Jus  sepulcri.  (Cic,  de  Leg.  ii.  22) 

*  Livy,  vi.  IS. 

VOL.    I.  13 


194.  ROME   UNDEE  THE  KINGS. 

bond  between  the  senators  of  Rome  and  the  provhicial  cities, 
between  the  rich  and  poor;  it  freed  the  society  of  this  age  from 
the  necessity  of  having  these  charitable  institutions  wliich  Cliristi- 
anity  multiphed  wlien  clientship  had  disappeared. 


IV.  Senate  and  King  ;  Plebeians. 

The  members  of  the  gentes,  of  absolutely  free  condition  {in- 
genui),  or  the  comrades  in  arms  [comites),  that  is  to  say,  the  patri- 
cians, nnastered  at  the  Comitium,^  divided  into  thirty  curiae,  the 
comitia  curiata,  and  there,  by  the  majority  of  votes,  but  with- 
out discussion,  they  made  laws,  decided  on  peace  or  war,  heard 
appeals,  and  appointed  to  public  or  religious  offices.  Here,  also, 
they  approved  or  rejected  wills  which  modified  the  property  of  the 
citizens,  and  adoptions  which  changed  their  civil   condition. 

The  chiefs  of  these  gentes,  or  elders  {seniores,  whence  senators), 
to  the  number  of  at  first  a  hundred,  two  hundred  after  the  union 
with  the  Sabines,  and  three  hundred  after  the  admission  of  the 
gentes  minores  under  Tarquin,  were  the  guardians  of  the  national 
customs.^  By  refusing  permission  to  present  a  bill  to  the  assembly 
of  curiae,  they  rendered  the  latter  powerless ;  and  as  the  council 
of  the  supreme  magistrate,  they  assisted  him  with  their  advice  in 
his  government  as  well  as  in  the  propositions  which  he  made  to 
the  people. 

Chosen  for  life  by  the  comitia  curiata,  the  king  fulfilled  the 
triple  functions  of  generalissimo,  high  priest,  and  supreme  judge. 
Every  nine  days,  according  to  Etruscan  custom,  he  dispensed 
justice,  or  appointed  judges  to  dispense  it  in  his  name.  During 
war  and  outside  the  walls  his  authority  was  absolute  for  discipline, 

1  The  Comhium  was  the  part  of  the  Forum  nearest  the  Capitol.  At  first  distinct  from  the 
Forum,  or  pulilic  place,  it  was  confounded  with  it  when  the  two  nations  became  one.  The 
Comitium  was  crowned  by  a  ]ilatform,  on  whicli  was  an  altar  sacred  to  Vulcan,  the  Vulcanal ; 
the  kings,  and  afterward  the  consuls  and  ])raetors,  dispensed  justice  there. 

^  Usually  they  sat  in  the  curia  Hostilia,  built  opposite  the  Comitium,  at  the  foot  of  the 
Capitol  (Livy,  i.  30)  ;  later  on  they  met  in  one  of  the  temples  of  the  city,  and  always  in  a  place 
consecrated  by  aus])ices.  They  deliberated  with  open  doors.  This  semi-publicity  of  the 
sittings  was  better  insured  when  the  tribunes  of  the  people  had  been  admitted  to  seats  on 
benches  at  the  doors  of  the  curia. 


PRIMITIVE   ORGANIZATION.  195 

;is  well  as  for  the  division  of  booty  aud  conquered  land,  of  wliich 
he  himself  kept  a  part ;  so  that  he  possessed,  under  the  name  of 
state  property,  considerable  domains.  Strangers,  that  is,  plebeians, 
were  subject  to  him  at  all  times  and  in  all  places.  He  convoked 
the  Senate  and  the  Sovereign  Assembly,  he  named  senators,  watched 
over  the  maintenance  of  laws  and  customs,  and  took  the  census. 
Six  centuries  later  we  find  these  rights  reappearing  in  the  pre- 
rogatives of  the  Emperors.  But  appeal  might  be  made  to  the 
people,  that  is  to  say,  to  the  comitia  curiata,  or  patrician  assembly, 
from  the  King's  judgments,  which  was  not  allowed  from  the 
sentence  of  the  Emperors,  —  a  difference  which  suffices  to  mark  the 
limited  power  of  the  one  and  the  absolute  authority  of  the  other.^ 
There  was  another  all-powerful  restraint  which  does  not  exist 
under  the  Empire,  —  the  augurs  and  priests,  being  appointed  for 
life,  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  King,  and  they  could  arrest  his 
proceedings  by  making  the  gods  intervene. 

He  had  for  his  guard,  it  is  said,  three  hundred  iCNiGnTS,  or 
celeres.  But  these  knights,  chosen  from  among  the  richest  citizens, 
were  probably  only  a  military  division  of  the  tribes  :  in  time  of 
war  they  formed  the  cavalry  of  the  legions.^  Their  chief,  the 
tribune  of  the  celeres,  was,  after  the  King,  the  first  magistrate 
of  the  city,  as  under  the  Republic  the  magister  equitmn,  the 
dictator's  lieutenant,  is  the  second  person  in  the  state.  When 
the  King  quitted  Rome,  a  senator,  whom  he  had  chosen  from 
among  the  ten  first  of  the  assembly,  governed  the  town,  under 
the  name  of  guardian.^  In  case  of  a  vacancy  in  the  royal  power, 
the  Senate  named  an  interrex  every  five  days.  Finally,  the 
quaestors  charged  with  the  institution  of  criminal  proceedings 
watched  over  the  distribution  of  public  charges,  munia,  and  the 
levy   of   certain   taxes   and  dues ;  *   and  the  duumviri  perduellionis 

*  'lepMv  Km  Bvmoni  rjycfinvlav  exew  (Dionvs.,  ii.  14).  [The  Emperors  monopolized  the  right 
of  appeal  under  the  trihunicla  potcstas. —  Ed.~\ 

*  Niebuhr's  school  include  all  the  patricians  in  the  three  centuries  of  knights,  without 
reflecting  that  in  Italy,  especially  at  Kome.  all  the  military  forces  consisted  of  infantry,  and 
that  in  a  Roman  army  there  were  never  more  tlian  a  small  number  of  cavalry,  as  the  nature  of 
the  country  rc([uired. 

'  Custos  urhis.  The  appellation  of  praefertus  urhi  is  more  modern.  Sec  Joan.  Lyd..  de 
Magisl.  i.  34,  38;  Tac.,  Ann.  vi.  11. 

*  Tacitus  (Ann.  xi.  22)  places  the  institution  of  the  financial  quaestorship  as  far  back  as 
the  kings ;  but  it  is  not  mentioned  before  509. 


196 


ROME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


judged  such  cases  of  high  treason  as  the  King  did  not  reserve  for 
his  own  decision. 

By  the  side    of    this    people    of   patrician   houses,^  which    alone 

forms  the  state,  makes 
laws,  furnishes  the 
Senate  with  members 
and  the  Republic  with 
kings  and  priests, 
which  possesses  every- 
thing, —  religion,  the 
auspices  by  which  it 
holds  communication 
with  the  gods,  political 
and  private  rights, 
lands,  and,  in  the  mul- 
titude of  its  clients,  a 
devoted  army,  —  below 
this  sovereign  class  are 
found  men  who  are 
neither  clients,  nor  vas- 
sals, nor  members  of 
the  gentes,  who  may 
not  enter  the  patrician 
houses  by  legal  mar- 
riage, who  have  neither 
the  paternal  authority,^ 
nor  the  right  of  testa- 
mentary disposition  or 
of  adoption,  —  who  do 
not  interpose  in  any 
affair  of  public  interest,  and  remain  outside  the  political,  as  they 
dwell  outside  the  actual,  city,  beyond  the  pomerium,  on  the 
hills  which  surround  the  Palatine.  These  men  are  the  plebeians. 
Ancient  inhabitants  of  the  seven  hills,  or  captives  carried  to  Rome, 


MEKCURY    FOUND    AT   PALESTRINA.' 


1  The  three  tribes,  Tar  rpels  <pv\as  ras  ycviKas  (Dionys.,  vi.  14). 

^  Patria  potestas  is  derived  from  patrician  marriage  by  confarrcatio,  and  the  jjlebeians 
cannot  contract  such.  Wills  and  adoptions,  to  be  valid,  must  be  accepted  by  the  curiae,  and 
they  cannot  enter  these.  *  Mas.  Pio  Clem.,  PI.  6. 


PRIMITIVE   ORGANIZATION.  197 

foreigners  attracted  to  the  place  of  refuge,  clients  who  have  lost 
their  patrons,  they  are,  as  Appius  afterward  says  of  them,  with- 
out auspices,  without  families,^  and  without  ancestors.  But  they 
are  free,  the\'  hold  property,"  they  practise  crafts,  and  already  pay 
honor  to  Mercury,  the  plebeian  god  of  commerce,  who  in 
time  will  enrich  some  among  them ;  ^  they  settle  their  disputes  by 
judges  chosen  from  their  midst,  they  receive  no  order  but  from 
the  King,  and  they  fight  in  the  ranks  of  the  Roman  army  to 
defend  the  fields  they  cultivate  and  the  walls  beneath  whose  shelter 
they  have  built  their  huts.  Soon  we  shall  find  them  become, 
by  the  laws  of  Servius,  citizens  of  Rome. 

In  antiquity,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages,  victory  assigned  to  the 
conqueror  the  person  and  lands  of  the  conquered.  Romulus  having 
become  in  some  way  or  other,  by  conquest  or  voluntary  cession, 
master  of  the  Agcr  Romanus,  was  then  enabled  to  divide  it 
equally  among  the  families  of  the  victors.  This  primitive  division, 
attested  by  all  writers,  established  among  the  citizens  an  equality 
of  fortune,  the  restoration  of  which  was  several  times  attempted 
by  the  agrarian  laws.  Each  gens  received,  perhaps,  an  allotment  of 
twenty  jugera,  on  the  condition  of  supplying  ten  fighting  men 
or  one  horse-soldier  for  the  army ;  the  legion  was  then  formed 
of  three  thousand  infantry  and  three  hundred  cavalry.  I  fear 
this  explanation  may  seem  like  an  idea  copied  from  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  feudal  armies,  as  clientship  recalled  to  our  minds 
vassalage.  The  same  system,  however,  is  found  in  Greece. 
Sparta  also  had  three  tribes  (<^uXat)  and  thirty  curiae  [wfiai),  to 
each  of  which  were  given  three  hundred  lots  of  lands,  and  the 
members  of  which  formed  the  army  and  the  sovereign  people.  At 
Rome  itself  the  possession  of  the  soil  entailed,  like  that  of  a  fief, 
the  obligation  of  military  service ;  and  the  landless  citizen,  aerarius, 
was  no  more  admitted  into  the  legions  than  the    Frank  without  a 

1  That  is  to  say,  they  do  not  form  gentes,  and  they  have  not  the yus  imaffinum. 

^  Either  those  which  they  had  reserved  on  the  territory  of  conquered  cities,  or  the 
asslijnations  of  the  kings.  Two  words  express  this  separation  of  the  two  people,  — ■  the  ])lebeians 
had  neither  the  connuhium,  or  marriage  right,  with  the  patricians,  nor  the  commercium,  or 
right  of  buying  and  selling. 

'  At  least  Livy  says  (ii.  27)  that  a  little  before  the  establishment  of  the  tribuncship,  the 
dedication  of  a  temple  to  Mercury  took  place  at  Rome,  and  that  a  college  of  mercliaiils  was 
established  under  the  patronage  of  the  god. 


198  EOME    UNDEE   THE   KINGS. 

domain  or  the  Lombard  witliout  a  war-horse^  into  the  King's 
host.  Under  different  aspects,  many  ages  of  the  world  are  ahke. 
In  nature  a  small  number  of  essential  elements  produces  an 
infinite  variety  of  creatures ;  just  so  in  the  political  world  the  J 
most  diverse  social  forms  often  hide  similar  principles.  Still  it 
need  not  be  concluded  from  this  that  humanity  surges  to  and  fro 
like  the  waves  of  the  ocean,  in  continual  ebb  and  flow;  in  that 
eternal  evolution  of  beings  and  empires,  principles  do  not  remain 
immutable ;  they  are  modified  and  developed.  The  world  seems  to 
roll  in  the  same  circle ;  but  this  circle  is  a  spiral  which  at  times 
returns  on  itself,  and  always  ends  on  a  higher  level. 

What  we  have  now  been  relating  was,  according  to  tradition, 
the  work  of  the  first  king,  —  that  is  to  say,  of  ancient  times ;  for 
popular  imagination,  which  sees  only  gods  in  the  phenomena  of 
nature,  sees  only  men  in  the  great  phases  of  history,  and  attributes 
to  heroes,  whose  names  it  invents  or  receives,  the  work  of  many 
generations.  For  the  Romans,  it  was  Romulus  who  had 
divided  the  people  into  tribes  and  curiae,  who  had  created  the 
knights  and  the  Senate,  established  patronage  and  paternal  and 
conjugal  power,  and  forbidden  nocturnal  sacrifices,  the  murder 
of  prisoners,  and  the  exposure  of  children,  unless  they  were 
deformed.'''  It  was  he  agam  who,  by  offering  an  asylum  and  by 
setting  the  great  example  of  inviting  conquered  people  to  the 
city,  had  prevented  Rome  remaining,  like  Sparta  and  Athens,  a 
city  with  only  a  few  citizens,  or,  to  adopt  the  expression  of 
Machiavelli,  an  immense  tree  without  roots,  ready  to  fall  at  the 
least  wind,^ 

1  Luitpr.  Leg.  v.  cap.  29. 

-  Dionys.,  ii.  15. 

*  "  Sparta  and  .Athens  were  exceedingly  warlike ;  tbey  had  the  best  of  laws ;  yet  they 
never  increased  as  much  as  Rome,  which  seemed  to  be  less  well  administered,  and  governed  by 
less  perfect  laws.  This  difference  can  only  come  from  the  reasons  e.xplained  above  [the  intro- 
duction into  Home  of  the  conquered  populations,  or  the  concession  of  the  citizenship].  Rome, 
anxious  to  increase  its  population,  could  put  280,000  men  under  arms;  Sparta  and  Athens  were 
never  able  to  exceed  the  number  of  20,000  each.  All  our  institutions  are  imitations  of 
nature,  and  it  is  neither  possible  nor  natural  that  a  slight  and  feeble  trunk  should  sup])ort 
heavy  branches  ,  .  .  The  tree  loaded  with  branches  thicker  than  the  trunk  grows  weary  of 
supporting  them,  and  breaks  in  the  least  wind."  —  Machiavelli. 


CHAPTER  m. 


EELIGION  AO  KELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS, 


I.  —  The  Public  Gods. 

JUST  as  those  civil  institutions  which  had  belonged  to  Central 
Ital}^  whence  the  Romans  sprang,  were  attributed  to  Romulus, 
so  Numa  has  been  looked  upon  as  the  author  of  the  religious 
customs  brought  from  Latium  and  the  Sabme  country.  We  know 
their  gods.  The  most  honored  were  first  Janus,  the  great  national 
divinity,  whose  name  stands  at  the  head  of  all  solemn 
invocations  —  the  god  with  two  faces:  for  he  it  is  who  ^i(^  '^J^J'i 
opens  and  shuts,  and  begins  and  ends ;  ^  Jovis,  or 
Jupiter,  the  god  of  light,  who  is  called  father  and 
preserver  of  all  things ;  Saturn,  who  protects  the  grain  m.*.r3. 
sown  in  the  earth  ;  Minerva,  who  warns  the  husbandman  in  time 
of  the  works  to  be  undertaken ;  ^  Mars,  the  symbol  of  life  renewed 
in  the  spring-time,  and  of  manly  force,  against  which  no  obstacle 
can  stand ;  ^  Quirinus,  the  Sabine  god,  who,  later  on,  being  con- 
founded with  Romulus,  descends  to  the  rank  of  a  demigod ;  Vesta, 
whose  altar  marked  the  centre  of  domestic  life  in  the  house  and 
of  political  life  in  the  city ;    Vulcan,  another  god  of  fire,  —  of  the 

'  According  to  Dionys.  (fr.  18),  Janus  is  represented  with  two  faces  because  he  knows 
the  past  and  the  future.  This  interpretation  is  relatively  modern.  In  fact  Janus  must  have 
been  a  solar  deity,  a  symbol  of  the  eternal  revolution  of  things. 

2  JMinerva,  or  rather  Menerva,  is  a  name  belonging  to  the  same  family  of  words  as  mens, 
monerc,  meminisse ;  hence  the  transformation  of  this  agricultural  deity  into  the  goddess  of 
science  and  art,  and  the  confounding  of  her  with  the  Greek  Athene.  (Breal,  Mel.  de  mijthol. 
p.  35.) 

'  Coins  sometimes  represent  him  by  the  figure  of  a  young  man  with  a  helmet  on  his  head, 
sometimes  mounted  on  a  chariot,  brandishing  a  lance  and  bearing  sjioils.  With  the  legend  of 
Mars  is  connected  the  much  less  clear  one  of  Anna  Perennti,  whose  festival,  as  Ovid  describes 
it,  recalls  certain  features  of  the  popular  ^e/es  of  modern  Rome. 


200 


ROME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


fire  which  devours  and  destroys,   of   the  fire  which  conquers   iron 

and  constrains  the  hardest  metals  to  bend  to  the  wants  of  men. 

He   early   had   an    altar,    tlie   Vulcanal,    laelow    the    Comitium.      It 

was   there,  according    to    tradition,  that    Romulus    and  Tatius  met 

to  conclude  peace. 

Diana    and    Jovino    were    the    feminine    forms    of    Janus    and 

Jovis :    the  one,   goddess  of  the  night  and  of   gloomy  woods ;  the 

other,  Juno,  of  the  day 
and  of  life,  queen  of 
heaven,  mater  regina,  and 
Juno  Sospita,  protector  of 
matrons  who  preserved 
their  conjugal  fidelity. 
Her  sanctuary  at  Lanu- 
vium  was  famous ;  the 
priests  there  kept  a  ser- 
pent, to  which  every  year 
a  virgin  offered  a  sacred 
cake,  —  a  dreadful  ordeal. 
If  he  refused  it,  the 
maiden  had  not  kept  her 
virgin  purity.  Diana,  who 
was  afterward  joined  with 
the  Hellenic  Artemis,  was 
also  a  kind  of  Lucina, 
wliom  women  called  to 
their  aid  in  childbirth. 
Men  paid  her  honor,  as 
the  goddess  of  mysterious 
forests ;  and  as  Latium 
was  covered  therewith, 
she  was  one  of  the  great 
divinities    of    the    Latins. 

We    have    seen    how    Servius    raised    a    temjile    to    her    on    the 


ti  t-fjSu'i 


JUNO    NURSING    HERCULES    (STATUE    IN    THE 
VATICAN).' 


1  We  need  hardly  observe  that  the  Ancient  Romans  long  had,  as  representations  of  their 
gods,  nothing  but  the  trunks  of  trees  roughly  hewn  into  shape,  or  coarse  symbols,  and  that 
consequently  the  busts  and  statues  here  given  are  of  a  period  when  Greek  art  reigned  at 
Rome,  and  when  the  town  was  encumbered  with  statues  taken  by  the  proconsuls  from  the 
cities  of  Hellas  and  Asia  Minor. 


RELIGION  AND  EELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS. 


201 


Aventine,  when  he  wished  to  unite  the  destinies  of  Rome  to  those 
of  the  Latin  cities. 

At  a  period  of  refined  philosophy  Pkitarch  explained  that  the 
worship  of  Fortune  complemented  that  of  Destiny ;  that  the  goddess 
of  the  swift  wino-s  ruled  over 
accidental  events,  whereas  the 
"  Son  of  Necessity "  ^  watched 
over  the  maintenance  of  the  un- 
changeable laws  of  the  universe 
and  the  execution  of  the  sover- 
eign decrees  pronounced  by  the 
supreme  God ;  it  was  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  coiitingent  and  the 
necessary,  of  the  domain  wherein 
human  liberty  can  be  exercised, 
and  that  wherein  divine  provi- 
dence rules.  The  Romans  did 
not  philosophize  so  deeply ;  but 
they  had  a  confused  idea  that 
everything  in  life  did  not  obey 
inevitable  laws,  and  according  to 
their  custom  they  had  created  a 
divinity  corresponding  to  this 
feeling,  —  Fortuna,  an  old  Italian 
deity,  whom  Servius  was  supposed 
to  have  introduced  into  Rome, 
and  who  had  certainly  come  there 
in  an  isolated  way.  She  was  held 
in  great  honor  at  Praeneste  and 
at  Antium,^  and  in  time  she  counts  more  worshippers  than  the 
great  gods  of  the  Capitol.^  The  common  people  and  slaves  held 
a  yearly  festival,  on  the  24th  of  Jime,  in  honor  of  her  who  could 
bestow  liberty  and  riches ;  and  in  their  prayers  they  joined  the 
name    of    Servius   with    that    of    the    good   goddess   who    from   an 

1  Plutarch  {ih  Falo),  says  that  in  Plato's  Republic  Destiny  is  the  work  of  the  Virgin 
Lachesis,  daughter  of  'AvdyKr),  Necessity. 

^  The  sortes  of  Praeneste,  so  famous  throughout  Italy,  were  little  sticks,  which  were 
drawn  by  a  child,  as  the  numbers  of  a  lottery  are  still  drawn  at  Rome. 

^  According  to  Phny  (Nat.  Hist.  ii.  5)  Fortune  was  the  great  divinity  of  his  time. 


i 

FORTUJfA    (statue    IN   THE    VATICAN). 


202    .  KOME   UIS^DEE,  THE   KINGS. 

adventurer  had  made  him  a  king.  "  When  she  entered  Rome," 
says  Phitarch,^  "  she  folded  her  wings  as  a  sign  that  she  wislied 
to  remain  tliere."  And  in  fact  she  is  still  there  ;  the  Roman  of 
the  present  day  believes  as  firmly  m  chance  as  the  Roman  of 
bygone  ages. 

Innumerable   were    her   titles,    and    consequently   her    temples  ; 
for  as  every  epithet  bestowed  on  her  expressed  a  special   kind  of 


TETRASTYLE  TEMPLE  OF  FORTUNA  (VIRILIS).^ 

favor  expected  from  her,  there  seemed  to  be  as  many  goddesses  of 
fortune  as  there  were  motives  for  making  supplication  to  Chance. 
The  Romans  thus  divided  the  deity  according  to  the  functions 
which  they  meant  it  to  fulfil  ;  and  all  their  gods  had  several 
different  phases,  as  though  this  people  were  incapable  of  contem- 
plating a  divine  being  in  its  grandeur  and  serenity. 

Women  even  desired  to  have  their  goddess  of  Fortune,  Fortuna 
muliebris,  to  whom  the  matrons  whose  tears  overcame  Coriolanus 
erected    a   temple.      They   consecrated    another   to   Fortuna   virilis, 

1  De  Fort.  Rom.  4. 

-  A  tetrastyle  temple,  of  the  last  days  of  the  Republic,  the  base  of  which  is  still  sur- 
rounded by  the  ancient  pavement  of  the  Palatine  Way.  Tt  is  situated  near  the  Temple  of  the 
Sun  (p.  160)  and  a  house  made  entirely  of  the  ancient  ruins.     See  Wey,  Romf,  p.  162. 


KELIGION  AND  RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS. 


203 


which  had  at  first  a  very  moral  function,  that  of  preserving  to 
wives  the  affection  of  their  husbands,  but  which  ends  by  being 
only  the  goddess  of  every  kind  of  feminine  coquetry.  This 
temple  still  exists,  —  and  with  good  reason,  since  the  goddess  has 
not  ceased  to  reign. 

The    gods    of    the    lower   world,  —  Tellus,    Terra-Mater,    Ceres, 

Dis-Pater,  etc.,  —  caused 
the  seed  to  germinate 
in  the  bosom  of  the  silent 
earth,  and  kept  guard 
over  the  dead.  Those  of 
the  sea,  —  so  numerous 
among  the  Greeks,  who 
passed  half  their  lives 
upon  the  waters,  —  could 
not  possess  much  credit 
with  a  people  who  had 
no  fleet.  But  in  the 
middle  region  dwelt  the 
deities  of  the  earth,  Medi- 
oxumi,^  gods  of  the  field 
and  forests,  of  the  har- 
vest and  vintage,  of  the 
springs  and  rivers,  —  gods 
more  popular  and  more 
honored  than  the  great 
gods  who  lived  far  away. 
There  Bona  Dea  reigned, 
or  Maia,  the  earth  which 
produces  all  things  neces- 
sary to  life,  and  who  was 

therefore  called  the  Great  Mother,  Hater  Mar/na  ;^  Saturn,  "the 
Good  Sower,"  Faunus,  Sylvanus,  and  Pales,  gods  of  the  woods 
and  meadows,  who  protected  the  farm,  the  poultry-yard,  and  the 
garden  established  in  some  forest  clearing,  and  who  drove  away 
the  wolf  and  fatal  diseases. 


.Y-'/V"!-^ 


FAUN    OP    PRAXITELES.'' 


>  Plautus,  Cistellaria,  11.  i.  45.  "  Macrobiiis,  Sat.  I.  xii.  20. 

*  Ancient  copy  of  the  Faun  of  Praxiteles,  in  tlie  Capitoline  Museum. 


204 


ROME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


MAlr.I    MAGNAE. 


FERONIA.^ 


In  ancient  times  Italy  was,  as  it  is  now,  the  country  of  great 
pastures ;  and  the  Roman  Campagna  still  keeps  the  race  of  wild 
shepherds  whose  sports  Vergil  depicts.  Their 
great  festival,  the  Palilia,  was  celebrated  on  the 
anniversary  of  the  founding  of  Rome,  April  21, 
and  the  royal  hill  of  Romulus  bears  the  name 
of  their  divinity.^  Rumina,  the  foster-mother, 
watched  over  the  nourishment  of  the  young 
cattle ;  hence  the  name  of  the  Ruminal  fig-tree, 
under  whose  shade  the  she-wolf  suckled  the  twins. 
Rubigo  preserved  the  wheat  from  mildew,  Vertumnus  and  Pomona 
caused  the  fruit  to  ripen  in  the  orchard.  Feronia, 
the  goddess  of  flowers,  of  joy,  and  of  all  natural  pleas- 
ures, seems  to  have  been  less  lavish  of  useful  favors ; 
yet  she  was  held  in  so  great  honor  that  Hannibal 
found  a  rich  treasiu'e  to  carry  off  from  her  temple 
at  the  foot  of  Soracte.  Besides  this  temple  she  had 
others  at  Terracina,  at  Trebula  in  the  country  of  the  Sabines,  and  at 
Luna  in  Etruria.  In  later  times  Flora  and  Venus  became  formidable 
rivals  to  this  goddess. 

Liber,    the   genius    whose    modest    duty    it 
was  to  secure  abundance  on  the  tables  of  his 
worshippers,  later  fell   heir  to  the  rich  legend 
of  the  Theban   Dionysos  and  the   Indian  Bac- 
chus ;  in  the  same  way  Hercules,  the  herdsman, 
became  the  glorious  son  of  Jupiter  and  Alcmena 
[Herakles]  when  a  wave  of  Greek  poetry  had 
fertilized  the  soil  of  Italian  mythology.^ 
Above  the   naiads,  and    nymphs,  and  all    the  water   genii,  rose 
Father  Tiberinus,  the  mighty  river,  who  scorned  to  be  fettered  with 
a  bridge  of  stone,   and  for  many  centuries   permitted    to    span   his 

1  Palatine,  from  pales,  a  word  wliich  is  itself  derived  from  tlie  root  jx'i,  which  formed  the 
verbs  sii;nif_ying  "  to  pasture  "  in  Greek,  Latin,  and  French. 

*  This  coin  was  struck  in  the  time  of  Augustus  by  the  monetary  tribune  Petronius  Turpi- 
lianus,  who  has  not  bestowed  beauty  on  the  Goddess  Feronia.  But  Roman  artists,  even  in  the 
time  when  they  were  most  under  the  influence  of  Greek  art,  did  not  seek  their  goddesses  in 
heaven,  they  took  tliem  from  the  Roman  Campagna.  The  Minerva  of  the  magnificent  chest 
of  Praeneste,  called  the  Ficorini,  looks  like  a  conladina. 

°  The  first  mention  of  the  worship  of  Herakles,  or  Hercules,  at  Rome,  is  made  by  Livy 
(v.  13)  in  connection  with  the  Icctisternium  of  the  year  418  B.  c. 


THE    TIBER. 


KELIGION  AND  RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS.  205 

waves  naught  but  the  Pons  Suhllcius,  built  uf  wood,  without  a 
single  piece  of  iron.  Moreover,  in  order  to  avert  the  anger  of 
the  gods,  tlie  pontiffs  had  undertaken  the  construction  of  it 
themselves ;  and  they  directed  all  repairs,  which  were  only  exe- 
cuted amid  religious  ceremonies.  In  the  distant  ages  the  Tiber  had 
exacted  human  victims ;  he  was  now  content  with  twenty-four 
mannikins  of  osier,  which  the  Vestals  yearly  (on  the  loth  of  May) 
cast  from  the  top  of  the  Sublician  Bridge  into  his  stream. 

To  all  these  gods  the  name  of  father  was  given,  which  would 
have  made  a  friend  of  Horace  smile,  but  which  in  ancient  Latium 
was  the  most  august  title  for  men  and  gods.  Eros,  wlio  plays  so 
high  a  part  in  the  Theogony  of  Hesiod  as  the  harmonious  arranger 
of  the  elements  of  chaos,  and  excites  sweet  feelings  in  men  and 
gods,  has  no  place  in  the  Roman  religion  of  the  early  ages. 
These  gods  are  united  in  pairs,  Saturn  and  Lua,  Quirinus  and 
Hora,  Mars  and  Nerio ;  but  the  son  of  Aphrodite  is  not  yet 
among  them.  These  loveless  and  childless  couples  represent  in 
their  severity  the  Latino-Sabine  family,  which  granted  no  place 
at  the  hearth  but  to  the  matron  and  her  rough  husband. 

The  innumerable  gods  of  the  Indigitamenta,  that  is,  whose 
names  were  written  on  the  registers  of  the  pontiffs,  formed  a 
class  apart.  They  had  the  singular  chai'acter  of  presiding  over 
every  action  of  life,  even  the  very  lowest,  from  birth  to  death, 
—  over  all  the  needs  of  mankind,  food,  clothing,  lodging;  over  all 
his  works,  etc. ;  but  in  such  wise  that  each  of  them  supplied  only 
one  of  these  needs.  They  are  only  known  by  the  epithet  which 
designates  their  duty.-^  The  need  satisfied  or  the  act  accomplished, 
no  further  prayer  is  addressed  to  them,  and  they  seem  as  if  they 
no  longer  existed.  Some  busy  themselves  about  conception  or 
pregnancy ;  others  about  childbirth ;  some  watch  over  the  suckling 
of  the  child;  some  make  it  utter  its  first  cry,  —  and  so  on  for  the 
whole  of   life.     Strange  illusion   of   man,  to  adore  the  conceptions 

^  See  in  Saint  Augustine  (Dc  Civ.  Dei,  vi.  9,  and  10)  .all  the  employments  of  these  gods, 
the  enumeration  of  which  he  concludes  with  these  eloquent  words  :  omnem  istam  i(]nobilem 
(Icorum  fnrbam  quam  longo  aevo  superslitio  conaessit.  Cf.  Maury,  Religions  de  I'anliquite 
vol.  ii.  p.  12.36.  [The  same  sort  of  feeling  is  seen  in  those  curious  early  Latin  hymns,  chiefly 
of  Celtic  origin,  which  are  called  Loricae,  and  consist  in  invocations  to  protect  every  spot  in 
the  body,  even  the  most  minute  and  ignoble.  There  are  several  specimens  in  Mone's  Hymni 
Lat.  Med  Aevi.  —  £</.] 


206-  EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

of  his  own  mind !  But  this  people,  possessed  of  such  terrible 
energy,  who  knew  nought  of  dreamy  contemplations  or  mystic 
ardors,  —  these  men  of  action  and  of  perseverance  could  do  noth- 
ing by  themselves.  Whether  his  private  interests  or  the  affairs  of 
the  state  were  in  question,  the  Roman  must  have  a  god  at  hand. 
Another  characteristic  trait  we  notice :  the  Greeks  held  their  polit- 
ical assemblies  in  the  theatre ;  the  Roman  Senate  met  to  deliberate 
in  the  temples  of  the  gods. 

IT.  The  Domestic  Gods. 

Certain  of  the  Roman  divinities  —  who  may  be  called  official, 
having  temples,  priests,  and  a  public  ritual,  with  the  homage  of  the 
crowd  —  were  besides  honored  in  a  sf)ecial  manner  in  the  tjentes, 
by  the  sacrn  gentilitia.  Each  of  the  great  families  had  its  protect- 
ing deity,  —  as  the  mediaeval  corporations  were  wont  to  make  choice 
of  a  heavenly  patron ;  and  this  cult  closely  united  all  the  members 
of  the  gens.  To  abandon  it  was  to  perish ;  the  gens  not  surviving 
the  desertion  of  its  ancient  altar.  Livy  relates  that  the  Potitii, 
having  given  up  to  the  state  the  worship  of  Hercules,  peculiar  to 
their  race,  all  died  within  the  year.^ 

Each  household,  even  the  poorest,  had  also  its  domestic  gods, 
modest  and  humble,  some  unseen,  the  Genii  and 

M  Manes  ;  others,  the  Lares  and  Penates,  represented 
by  small  rude  earthen  figures,  coarsely  moulded 
and  baked  in  an  oven,  but  held  in  as  much  honoi- 
as  are  the  holy  pictures  of  the  Russian  lieasants 
in  our  time.  All  these  are  with  difficulty  dis- 
tinguished from  one  another,  representing  more 
or  less  clearly  the  idea  of  a  supernatural  protec- 
tion exercised  by  departed  spirits  over  the  house 

DOMESTIC    ALTAR.2  ./  i  i  .  r     •    U 

which  had  once  been  their  home.  This  faith 
appears  to  have  existed  in  Greece ;  we  also  find  it  in  Etruria ; 
and  it  would  seem  to  be  one  of  the  earliest  manifestations  of 
the  religious  instinct. 

1  ix.  29. 

2  Tbe  domestic  altars  wci'e  sometimes  very  small,  like  the  Penates  themselves.  The  one 
we  give  is  only  reduced  to  a  (juarter  of  its  real  size. 


EELIGION  AND  EELIGIOUS    INSTITUTIONS. 


207 


Let  ns  first  dispose  of  the  numberless  crowd  of  Genii. 
That  strange  doctrine  is  well  known  which  makes  men,  and  even 
gods,  of  a  double  nature,  and  gives  each  in  his  lifetime  two 
existences,  one  of  which    continues    after    death. ^      The  Genii  pre- 


THE    LARES.'' 


sided  over  all  the  phenomena  of  physical  and  moral  life.  Nothing 
took  place  without  them,  and  the  favor  or-  enmity  reached  the 
individual,  the  family,  the  city,  even  the  whole  nation. 


*  Seep.  128.  —  Siih  terra  censehant  reliijuam  i-ilam  ar/i  morluorum.  (Cie.  Tusc.  i.  16.) 

*  Lares  taken  from  the  C'ampana  Museum,  and  comparatively  modern.  These  statuettes, 
so  full  of  pretentious  affectation,  were  certainly  not  honored  with  the  same  strong  faith 
accorded  to  the  shapeless  fetiches  of  ancient  days.  The  Penates,  who  insured  joy  and 
abundance  to  the  house,  were  in  late  days  represented  in  a  joyous  attitude,  holding  in  one 
hand  a  drinking-horn,  and  in  the  other  a  dish. 


208  EOME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

The  Penates,  or  gods  of  the  interior,  whom  Vergil  calls 
paternal  gods,^  were  the  spirits  of  the  house,  in  which  they 
provided  abundance,  penus.  With  the  Lares  or  Lords,  the  spirits 
of  ancestors,  were  connected  all  endearing  and  sweet  memories. 
The  Lares  shared  the  joys  and  griefs  of  the  family,  and  were 
associated  with  its  good  or  evil  fortune.  In  every  festival 
they  took  part,  on  all  happy  occasions  they  were  crowned  with 
flowers  or  foliage,  and  the  young  man,  when  he  took  the  toga 
virilis,  consecrated  to  them  the  bulla  which  he  had  worn.  No 
meal  was  eaten  without  a  portion  l^eing  set  apart  for  them, 
a  kind  of  communion  with  the  gods  which  in  grave  circumstances 
was  performed  by  the  whole  city,  when  she  invited  all  her 
guardian  deities  to  the  solemn  feast  of  the  lectisternium. 

At  an  epoch  already  sceptical  Plautus  introduces  on  the  stage 
a  family  Lar,  who  explains  to  the  spectators  the  plot  of  one  of 
his  plays.  "  I  am  the  Lar  of  this  house.  For  many  a  year  I 
have  had  the  keeping  of  it,  and  I  watch  over  it  from  father  to 
son.  The  grandfather  of  the  present  holder  confided  a  treasure 
to  me  with  many  supplications,  and  secretly  hid  it  under  the 
hearth,  asking  me  to  preserve  it.  He  was  a  miser,  and  h& 
departed  without  speaking  to  his  son  about  it.  When  he  was 
dead,  I  carefully  observed  his  son,  to  see  if  I  should  receive 
more  honor  from  him  than  from  his  father.  I  soon  found  that 
he  diminished  still  more  the  expenses  which  concerned  me.  I 
punished  him  for  it,  and  he  never  knew  of  the  secret  hoard.  His. 
son  resembles  him ;  but  his  daughter  never  misses  a  day  in  offer- 
ing me  incense,  wine,  and  prayers ;  so  I  will  lead  her  to  discover 
the  treasure."  ^ 

Take  away  the  disrespectful  handling  of  the  poet,  who  makes 
the  familiar  Lar  a  piece  of  theatrical  machinery,  and  you  will 
find  the  god  whose  worship  was  the  consolation  and  hope  of  many 
a  generation. 

With  the  worship  of  the  Lares  was  associated  that  of  the^ 
domestic  fire ;  and  it  may  be  said  that  the  two  corner-stones  which 

'  Macrobius  {Sat.  TTT  iv.  6  and  8)  calls  the  Penates  the  peculiar  gods  of  the  Romans : 

(Us   Romanorum  propriis  .  .  .  per  quos  penitus  spiramus,  per  (/uos  habemus   corpus,  per  quos: 
ratlonem  animi  possidemus. 

^  Prolojrue  of  the  A  ulularia. 


RELIGION  AND  RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS. 


209 


upheld  Roman  society  were  the  hearthstone  and  the  tombstone. 
The  family  was  formed  around  the  one,  and,  in  spite  of  the  sad 
separation,  it  continued  around  the  other.  He  who  had  no 
Penates  wandered  about  in  life  as  he  who  had  no  tomb  wandered 
in  death  ;  and  the  hearth 
is  a  saci'ed  place.  On 
the  kalends,  the  ides,  the 
nones,  on  all  feast-days, 
a  crown  of  flowers  is 
hung  there,^  and  on  en- 
tering the  house  the  father 
salutes,  first  of  all,  the 
Lares  of  the  hearth.^ 

Great  Vesta  reigns 
over  the  public  hearth, 
"a     living     flame      that  i.  bili-a.^  2. toung  romax  wear- 

.,,  .  .  ING    THE    BULLA.-' 

neither  gives  nor  receives 

any  germ  of  life,"  *  consequently  an  eternal  virgin,  who  can  have 
none  but  virgins  for  companions.  Each  house  also  possesses  a 
domestic  Vesta.  The  hearth  is  her  altar,  and  the  fire  which 
burns  there  is  a  god,  —  the  god  who  sustains  life  in  the  house, 
as  the  sun  does  in  nature,  who  bakes  the  bread,  makes  the  tools, 
and  aids  in  all  kinds  of  work  ;  but  the  god  who  purifies  too  ; 
who  is  never  soiled ;  who  receives  sacrifices  and  bears  to  the 
other  deities  the  prayers  of  mortals,  when  the  flame,  quickened 
by  oil,  incense,  and  the  fat  of  victims,  blazes  up  and  darts 
towards  heaven.     ' 

"  0  Hearth,"  says  an  Orphic  hj-mn,  "  thou  who  art  ever 
young  and  beauteous,  make  us  always  happy !  Thou  who  dost 
nourish,  receive  in  good  part  our  offerings,  and  give  us  in  return 
happiness    and    health."     With    less    of    religious   fervor,    but    with 


1  Cato,  de  Re  rust.  143. 

2  Ibid.  2. 

'  No.  1  represents  the  golden  bulla,  without  ornamentation,  except  on  the  clapper-ring. 
No.  2  shows  a  statue  from  tlie  Louvre  representing  a  young  Roman  clad  in  the  praetexta  and 
wearing  tlie  bulla.  The  poor  wore  leather  ones ;  but  all  had  them,  for  the  bulla  was  supposeta 
to  possess  the  power  of  averting  evil. 

*     ...   Vivamjlammam  .  .  .    quae  seniina  nulla  remittit  nee  capit. 

Ovid  :  Fast.  vi.  291-294. 
VOL.   I.  14 


210  ■  EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

an  emotion  which  gives  an  idea  of  tliis  eternal  worship  of  the 
hearth,  Cicero  says,  later  on :  "  Here  is  my  religion,  liere  my 
race  and  tlie  traces  of  my  fatliers.  I  find  in  this  place  an  indefin- 
able charm,  which  penetrates  my  heart  and  enthralls  my  senses." 
And  we  of  modern  times  still  say  similar  things  when  we  return 
to  our  paternal  hearth. 


III.   The  Manes. 

The  souls  of  the  dead,  or  Lemures,  were  of  two  kinds,  —  those 
of  the  wicked,  the  Larvae,  and  those  of  the  good,  the  Manes. 

The  Manes,  "  the  pure  beings,"  were  the  dead  purified  by 
funeral  ceremonies,  and  become  the  protectors  of  those  whom 
they  had  left  behind  them  in  life.  At  Rome,  as  everywhere,  the 
dead  was  not  thought  to  be  altogether  dead.  He  had  his  place 
of  al)ode  like  the  living;  liis  hearth  was  in  the  tomlj.  There  he 
began  a  second  life,  sad,  but  calm,  if  the  funeral  rites  had  been 
accomjDlished ;  fretful  and  unhappy  when  funeral  honors  had  not 
been  paid  him.  Separated  from  his  mortal  remains,  the  human 
being  did  not  (juit  the  earth  to  ascend  into  ethereal  spheres  or 
to  descend  into  the  lower  regions.  Invisible,  Imt  ever  present, 
he  remained  near  those  he  had  loved,  inspiring  them  with  wise 
thoughts,  protecting  their  abode  and  their  fortune,  —  on  the  con- 
dition, however,  that  the  livhig  should  render  to  the  dead  the 
worship  due  to  ancestors.  Originally  these  rites  were  cruel,  —  at 
least  on  the  day  of  the  funeral  ceremonies ;  for  it  was  thought 
that  the  Manes  loved  blood.  On  the  touab  of  a  king  or  hero 
they  immolated  his  wife,  his  slaves,  his  war-horse  or  captives ; 
and  from  this  custom  came  the  combats  of  gladiators,  which  were 
at  first,  as  was  the  Spanish  auto-da-fe,  an  act  of  devotion.  But 
on  anniversaries  the  Manes  were  satisfied  if  the  relations  came 
to  deck  the  tomb  with  wreaths  of  foliage,  as  we  place  flowers 
thereon,  and  to  deposit  cakes  of  honey  and  meal,  to  make  liba- 
tions of  wine,  milk,^  and  the  blood  of  some  unpretending  victim. 
They    were    present    in    invisible    form    at   these   pious    ceremonies, 

»  Ovid,  FaM.  ii.  b31,  seq. 


RELIGION  AJ^D   RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS.  211 

and  took  their  part  of  the  offerings.^  A  great  number  of  bas- 
reliefs  and  paintings  represent  the  dead  engaged  in  their  "  Ely- 
sian  repasts."  Lucian,  who  laughs  at  ever3-thing,  ridicules  this 
appetite  of  the  dead ;  ^  and  in  fact,  in  his  time,  nay,  even  long 
before  him,  there  were  miserable  wretches,  the  hustirapi,^  who 
played  the  part  of  the  dead,  by  carrying  away 
in  the  night  the  food  deposited  on  the  tombs. 
But  pious  people  believed  that  the  benevolence 
of  the  Manes  was  secured  by  these  offerings, 
and  that  to  forget  them  was  to  expose  oneself 
to  their  anger.  Wandering  then  in  the  silent 
night,  they  came  to  terrify  the  living,  or  to  cast 
disease  on  the  flock,  barrenness  on  the  land. 
Thus  even  at  a  time  when  the  credit  of  Jupiter 
had  fallen  very  low  Cicero  wrote  :  "  Render  to 
the  Manes  what  is  due  to  them,  and  hold  them 
for  divine  beings ;  for  our  ancestors  would  that  "^oue^I' tomb  ^ 
those  who  had  qiiitted  this  life  should  be  of  the 
number  of  the  gods !  "  ^  We  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  on  pass- 
ing near  a  tomb.  The  Roman  said  to  the  dead,  "  Sleep  in  peace  !  " 
or  else,  "  Be  propitious  to  us !  "  and  he  saluted  with  the  same 
gesture  of  adoration  that  he  used  in  worshipping  the  gods.  Even 
when  a  family  was  obliged  to  sell  the  field  in  which  its  funeral 
vault  was  placed,  the  law  reserved  a  right  of  passage,  that  they 
might    go  to  perform    the  sacred    rites    there. ^     On  the    return    of 

'  Varro,  de  Ling.  Lot.  vi.  13.     The  custom  of  the  funeral  feast  on  the  day  of  the  obsequies 
is  preserved  in  our  provinces.     In  my  eliildhood  it  still  existed,  even  in  Paris ;  but  it  is  no 
longer  more  than  an  act  of  politeness  towards  the  guests,  and  none  of  the  religious  idea  which 
the  ancients  attached  to  it  now  remains. 
2  De  Luclu,  9. 
'  Plautus,  Pseud.  I.  iii.,  127. 

*  .  .  .  Tacitae  .  .  .  tempore  noctis 
Purque  vias  urbis,  Latinsque  ululasse  per  agros 
Deformes  animas. 

Ovid  :  Fast.  ii.  552. 
^  Taken  from  a  painted  vase,  on  which  Orestes  is  represented  approaching  the  tomb  of 
Agamemnon. 

^  Cic,  de  Leg.  ii.  9  and  22  .  .  .  Mnjorcs  ens,  qui  ex  hac  vita  migrasseni,  in  denrum 
mimcro  esse  voluissent.  We  must  call  to  mind  this  belief,  so  persistent  among  the  Romans, 
when  we  see  the  Emperors  declared  divi. 

'  Dig.  xviii.  1,  6.  These  rites  of  the  tomb  are  found  as  far  as  the  extreme  East.  Among 
the  Annamites,  children  inherit  the  property  of  their  father  in  equal  portions,  except  the  eldest. 


212 


EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


the  Feralia,  the  last  day  of  the  festival  of  the  dead,  there  was 
celebrated  in  each  house  the  Caristiae,  a  feast  in  which  all  the 
relatives  took  part.  Then  they  recalled  the  glorious  memories  of 
the  family;  together  they  worshipped  the  Lares,  the  protectors 
of  the  paternal  roof,  and  they  separated  with  mutual  wishes  for 
prosperity.  "  At  this  fraternal  banquet,"  says  Ovid,  "  Concord 
always  came  to  take  a  seat."  ^ 

This    religion    of   death    is   at  once    the    most   ancient    and    the 
most  touching ;  it  established  a  bond  between  the  past  generations 


GESTURE  OP  ADORATION.^ 


GESTURE  OF  ADORATION.' 


and  those  which  survived  them.  The  soul  of  the  ancestors  was  the 
soul  of  the  family,  and  there  was  in  this  firm  belief  a  great 
principle  of  social  conservatism. 

But  let  us  take  notice  that  this  festival  of  the  dead  differed 
essentially  from  ours,  which  is  a  beautiful  idea  of  universal  charity 
continued  beyond  the  tomb,  —  a  prayer  offered  by  all  for  all. 
Among  the  Romans  the  worship  of  the  dead  was  essentially 
domestic  ;  near  relatives  alone  were  entitled  to  make  the  offerings, 
and  no  stranger  had  the  right  to  be  present  at  the  funeral  repast, 
the  i^ious  representation  of   the  banquets  of  the  Elysian  life,  which 


who  holds  an  extra  portion,  in  order  to  keep  up  the  tombs  of  his  ancestors.  (Ch.  Lemire, 
Cochinchine  franc,  1877.) 

*  Concordia  fertur  .  .  .  ade.ise.     (Fast.  ii.  631.) 

^  Bas-relief  from  the  Louvre. 

'  Taken  from  a  paintina;  on  a  Greek  vase.  A  young  Greek  woman  and  young  man 
saluting  a  Hermes.  To  jnit  the  right  hand  up  to  the  mouth  is  still  a  mode  of  salutation  in  the 
East,  and  sometimes  even  with  us. 


-■-«V^<?;fe^  J  t:-;.-.r.-  ^":''^£I 


_C3;      r-^f/i 


WP^P^ 


7v7^ 


^.'■^^V!feA^%^*t-«t.'g^  "^^-^^  ^^3^3^x3^a^^^^^^'■^3g^^^S^^^Ov-'j 


AN   ELYSIAN    KEPAST. 


RELIGION   AND   EELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS.  215 

were  the  only  joy  tlie  Roman  and  Greek  could  imagine  for  their 
dead.^  The  man,  then,  who  died  without  leaving  a  family  behind 
him,  lacked  those  honors  which  were  necessary  to  the  repose 
and  consolation  of  the  dead.  In  order  to  avoid  this  misfortune, 
the  childless  Roman,  in  default  of  a  natural  family,  created  for 
himself  a  legal  family ;  and  to  religious  belief  must  be  attributed 
the  importance  of  that  civil  custom  of  adoption,  as  frequent  at 
Rome  as  it  is  rare  with  us.  The  funeral  colleges  under  the 
Empire  are  another  means  of  providing  oneself  with  relatives,  who 
may  accomplish  the  rites  necessary  to  this  second  life  in  the 
tomb. 

The  Larvae,  the  messengers  of  the  gloomy  abode,  brought 
the  living  unlucky  dreams,  threatening  visions,  and  terrible 
apparitions ;  they  were  the  phantoms  that  peopled  the  night,  and 
whose  anger  people  sought  to  deprecate  by  throwing  black  beans 
over  the  shoulder,  or  Ijy  striking  a  bronze  vessel.  All  were  not 
so  easy  to  exorcise,  and  about  some  of  them  there  cu'culated 
dreadful  stories,  which  strengthened 
the  belief  in  evil  Genii.  '•  Ulysses," 
say  Pausanias  and  Strabo,  "  having 
stopped  at  Temesa,  on  the  coast  of 
Bruttium,     one    of     his     companions, 

T,    ^.,  ,1  .,  1  TEMESA    OF    BRUTTIUM." 

rolites,  outraged    a  maiden,  and  was 

stoned  by  the  inhabitants.  Ulysses  did  nothuig  to  avenge  this 
murder  and  appease  the  manes  of  the  hero,  so  the  spectre  of  Polites 
returned  every  night  to  spread  terror  and  death  among  the  people 
of  Temesa.  In  order  to  escape  his  anger,  they  were  about  to 
abandon  their  town,  when  the  Pythoness  revealed  to  them  that 
they  would  appease  the  hero  if  they  built  a  sanctuary  to  him,  and 
yearly  offered  to  him  the  most  beautiful  among  their  daughters. 
The  shrine  was  raised  in  the  thickest  part  of  a  wood  of  wild 
olives,  and  the  fearful  sacrifice  was  performed,  till  the  day  when  a 

1  The  engraving  on  page  213  represents  the  paintings  on  a  tomb  at  Tartjuinii  (Corneto). 
In  the  foreground  an  Eljsian  repast ;  on  the  two  side-pieces,  persons  dancing,  doubtless  the 
initiated  celebrating  some  rite  of  Bacchus  in  the  midst  of  a  sacred  wood.  On  the  two  sides  of 
the  door  of  the  tomb,  two  horsemen  and  some  tigers  or  jianthers,  probably  in  memory  of  the 
funeral  games.  (^Allas  du  Bull,  arch.,  1831,  PI.  xxxii.  For  the  description,  see  Annales, 
vol.  iii.  p.  325,  seq.) 

^  Tlie  first  three  letters  of  the  name  of  the  town,  and  a  helmet ;  on  the  reyerse  a  tripod, 
two  greaves;  silver  coin. 


216 


EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


famous  athlete  of  Locri,  named  Eutliymos,  entered  the  temple, 
saw  the  maiden,  and,  touched  with  compassion  and  love,  resolved 
to  fight  the  demon  on  the  following  night.  He  conquered,  drove 
him  out  of  the  territory,  and  obliged  him  to  cast  himself  into 
the  waves  of  the  Ionian  Sea.  After  that  time  never  did  the  fatal 
spectre  re-appear ;  but  there  long  existed  the  proverb,  '  Beware 
the  hero  ! '"  ^  * 


IV.   Naturalism  of  the  Roman  Religion  and  Formal  Devotion, 

There  is  a  poetry  in  the  pious  ceremonies  performed  near  the 
hearth   and    around   the   tombs.      Poetry    of   another    kind,    too,   is 

found  in  the  worship  of 
the  sacred  groves.  The 
Apennines  were  then 
covered  with  those  im- 
mense forests,  whose 
silence  and  mystery  long 
inspired  a  religious  ter- 
ror. To  find  jjrotection 
amid  these  unknown, 
and,  consequently,  so 
much  the  more  dreaded, 
dangers,  men  consecra- 
ted in  some  glade  a 
grouj)  of  trees,  which  henceforth  became  an  inviolable  sanctuary. 
Sometimes  a  single  tree,  which  had  l^een  struck  by  a  thunderbolt, 
or  whose  crest  topped  the  whole  forest,  and  which  allowed  nothing 
to  grow  l^eneath  the  depths  of  its  shadow,  became  a  divine  being. 
In  456  B.  c,  three  aml^assadors  from  Rome  came  to  demand  of 
the   Aequi   the   fulfilment  of    a   treaty.      The    chief,    seated   under 


SACRED    TREE.' 


*  Pausanias,  VI.  vi.  7-1 1 ;  Strabo,  vi.  p.  255 ;  Suidas,  s.  v.  EvSvfios ;  Aelianus,  Hist.  Var. 
viii.  18.  See,  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  the  story  of  tlie  matron  delivered  by  the  priests  of  Isis 
to  the  god  Anubis. 

^  Bas-relief  in  the  Louvre.  Cymbals  are  hung  on  the  branches  of  the  sacred  tree  ;  behind 
it  stands  the  altar,  on  which  a  ram,  which  a  child  leads,  is  about  to  be  sacrificed ;  behintl,  a 
veiled  priestess  and  the  flute-jilayer,  necessary  in  all  sacrifices.  Behind  the  altar  a  second 
woman,  bearing  offerings  on  her  head.     The  worship  of  sacred  trees  still  e.xists  in  many  places. 


EELIGION  AND  RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS.  217 

an  immense  oak,  answered  them  derisively :  "  Address  yourselves  to 
this  tree ;  I  have  other  business  than  listening  to  you."  "  Good," 
cried  one  of  the  Romans ;  "  let  this  sacred  oak,  and  the  god,  who- 
soever he  be,  who  dwells  therein,  Ivnow  that  you  have  violated 
your  promised  faith  ;  may  they  lend  a  favorable  ear  to  our  com- 
plaint and  aid  us  in  the  fight."  ^ 

Vergil  and  Lucan  saw  the  remains  of  this  old  naturalism  still 
in  existence.  They  speak  of  trees  held  in  veneration,  of  the  olive- 
tree  of  Faunus,  whereon  sailors,  when  they  came  back  from  a 
dangerous  voyage,  suspended  their  ex-voto,  and  of  the  ancient  oak 
that  stretches  towards  heaven  its  withered  arms,  yet  ever  bears 
the  remains  of  victims  offered  by  the  people,  and  the  sacred  gifts 
of  the  chiefs.  Though  around  it  there  spreads  the  sturdy  green 
forest,  it  alone  is  honored. 

"Exuvias  populi  .   .   .   sacrataque  gestans 
Doua  dufum   .    .    . 
Sola  tameu  colitur." 

Animals  naturally  played  a  part  in  this  religion  of  nature.  In 
the  temple  of  Jimo  Sospita  at  Lavmia  a  serpent  received  offerings. 
The  woodpecker,  which,  with  its  strong  beak,  seems  to  attack  the 
largest  trees  in  search  of  food,  and  the  wolf,  king  of  the  Italian 
forests,  were  the  symbols  of  Mars.  When  under  the  leafy  cover, 
in  the  silence  and  shade,  the  woodpecker  was  heard  afar,  striking 
his  short,  sharp  blows,  it  was  the  rustic  god  who  spoke,  and  the 
augur  gave  a  meaning  to  his  words. 

In  substance,  the  religion  of  the  early  Romans  was  not  far 
removed  from  fetichism.  Quirinus,  represented  by  a  spear ;  Jupiter 
Lapis  by  a  stone ;  ^  Vesta  by  fire ;  Mars  by  his  shield ;  and  the 
gods  and  goddesses  of  fallow  lands,  of  weeding,  of  manure,  of 
rust,  of  the  grindstone,  of  the  oven,  of  fear,  of  fever,  and  all  that 
represented  the  physical  agencies  which  man  loves  or  dreads,  —  are 
scarce  above  the  level  of  those  good  or  evil  beings  which  barbarous 
nations  worship.  For  the  magistrate  as  well  as  for  the  private 
person,   the   song  or  flight  of  a  bird,  an  unusual  noise,   a  sudden 

1  Livy,  iii.  25. 

^  According  to  Varro  (St.  Aug.,  de  Ch\  Dei,  iv.  31),  the  Romans  reniainetl  I'li  years 
■without  possessing  any  statues.  I  do  not  knovi  whether  the  date  is  e.xact,  but  tlie  fact  must 
have  good  foundation. 


218    •  ROME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

or  involuntary  sadness,  a  false  step,  the  flickering  of  a  flame, 
the  groans  of  the  victim,  the  prolongation  or  speedy  termination 
of  its  death-pangs,  the  color  and  form  of  the  entrails,  —  everything, 
in  fact,  was  an  omen,  and  the  appetite  of  the  sacred  chickens  or 
the  size  of  a  victim's  liver  often  carried  grave  decisions. 

The  Roman  knew  nothing  of  divine  love ;  on  the  contrary, 
he  trembled  before  the  innumerable  deities,^  capricious  and  vin- 
dictive, whom  he  pictured  to  himself  lying  in  wait  everywhere 
along  the  path  of  life ;  and  in  the  words  of  the  most  religious  of 
pagans,^  "  Full  of  affright,  he  entered  their  sanctuary,  as  though 
their  temple  were  the  cave  of  a  bear  or  dragon."  Should  he 
by  mischance  cross  the  threshold  of  Ids  house  with  his  left  foot 
first,  should  he  hear  the  squeak  of  a  mouse  or  his  glance  fall  on 
any  object  held  to  be  unlucky,  immediately  he  re-entered  his  house 
distracted,  and  could  not  feel  re-assured  till  he  had  offered  an 
expiatory  sacrifice.  He  Vjelieved  in  the  evil  eye,^  like  the  Iralian 
of  the  present  day,  and  like  him  too  he  thought  to  guard  against 
it  by  a  fascinum^  which  he  hung  round  the  necks  of  his  children, 
in  his  garden  and  over  his  hearth.  Hence  came  the  god  Fascinus, 
whose  worship  was  intrusted  to  the  vestals,  and  who  was  placed 
on  the  chariot  of  generals  at  their  triumph,  to  turn  aside  envy 
and  to  avert  evil  fortune.^  There  was,  however,  a  sure  preserva- 
tive against  spells,  which  was  to  spit  into  one's  right  shoe  before 
putting  it  on." 

Cato  the  Elder  died  in  149  B.  c.  He  lived,  then,  at  a  period 
in  which  the  grand  age  of  Roman  civilization  began ;  yet  how 
superstitious  is  this  cool-headed  and  calculating  man !  He  believes 
in  charms  and  in  magic  words  for  healing  sickness.  Here  is 
his  prescription,  for  instance,  against  dislocations.  "  Take  a  green 
rush,  four  or  five  feet  long,  cut  it  m  two  in  the  middle,  and  let 

1  Varro  said  30,000,  which  was  also  Hesiod's  reckoning  (Works  and  Days,  252);  but 
Maximus  Tyrius  (Dissert,  i.)  thought  this  figure  far  too  small. 

"  Plutarch,  de  Supers!..  25 ;   Cic,  de  Divin.  ii.  72. 

'  Nescio  quis  teneros  oculus  mihifascinat  agnos.     (Verg.,  Ed.  iii.  103.) 

*  This  fascinum  was  commonly  a  sali/ricum  sif/mim  (Pliny,  Nnl.  Hisl.  xix.  19),  or  a  little 
bell  suspended  on  a  branch  of  coral.  Almost  all  young  Chinese  wear  this  latter  kind  of 
amulet.  This  does  not  \m\i\y  that  the  superstition  travelled  from  Pekin  to  Rome.  The 
human  mind,  in  all  races,  passes  through  similar  stages,  which  lead  to  unexpected  results. 

^  Fortuna  gloriae  carnifex.     (Pliny,  Nat.  Hist,  xxviii.  7.) 

»  Ibid. 


RELIGIO]Sr  AND  RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS.  219 

two  men  hold  it  on  jour  thighs.  Begin  to  sing:  daries  dardaries 
astafaries  dissunapiter,  and  continue  to  do  so  until  the  two  pieces 
are  joined  together  again.  Wave  a  blade  over  them  when  the  two 
pieces  are  joined  and  touch  one  another,  seize  hold  of  them,  and 
cut  them  across  lengthways.  Make  a  bandage  therewith  on  the 
broken  or  dislocated  member,  and  it  will  heal.  Sing,  however, 
over  the  dislocation  daily :  huat  hanat  huat,  ista  jjista  sista.  domiabo 
damnaustra,  or  else  huat  haiit  liaut  ista  sis  tar  sisordaunahon 
dannaustra."  And  he  mtroduced  into  his  de  He  nistica  many 
similar  receipts.  Yet  Cato  is  one  of  the  greatest  personages  of 
Rome.  It  is  evident  that  this  people  was,  on  certain  poi;its,  very 
small  indeed. 

Superstitions  quite  as  gross  and  credulity  as  blind  have  been 
seen  in  later,  and  even  in  highly  civilized  ages,  and  in  many 
places  there  exist  others  worthy  of  them.  Even  the  Genii  of 
ancient  Rome  are  no't  all  dead ;  they  live  again  under  other  names, 
to  people  that  infinity  of  heavens  whereof  the  void  and  silence 
frighten  us.  But  what  belongs  more  particularly  to  the  Roman 
religion  is  its  formalism.  There  is  no  fervor  or  divine  aspira- 
tion, still  less  philosophic  reflection,  in  its  piety.  The  words, 
attitudes,  and  gestures  are  ordered  by  the  ritual.  To  leave  the 
established  rule,  even  to  be  generous  to  the  gods,  was  to  go 
beyond  what  was  proper,  and  to  fall  into  superstition.  In  the 
temple,  the  most  religious  state  of  the  soul  was  absolute  calm ; 
silence  on  the  lips,  silence  in  the  mind.^  For  the  ceremonies,  all 
was  settled  beforehand,  even  to  the  prayer,  which  should  only 
rise  from  the  heart ;  and  soon  they  begin  to  pray  in  forms  -  which 
are  no  longer  understood.  In  the  time  of  the  Antonines  the 
brotherhood  of  Arvales  chanted  songs  which  dated  perhaps  from 
Numa.  It  was  needful,  too,  to  repeat  these  ancient  compositions 
witli  religious  care,  for  a  peculiar  virtue  attached  to  the  very 
expressions.  By  the  omission  of  one  word  a  sacrifice  became 
useless,  a  prayer  vain.  The  lawyers  say  at  a  later  period :  quia 
vinjula  cadit,  causa  cadit,  —  through  a  comma,  one  loses  his  suit. 
The  same  was  thought  to  be  the  case  with  the  gods.  When  a 
consul  had  a  religious    formula   to    pronounce,  he  read  it  from  the 

1  Templum  in  quo  verbis  jxircimus,  in  quo  animos  componimus,  in  quo  lacitam  etiam 
mcntem  nostram  custodimus.  (Qiiintil.,  Declam.  265.) 


220  EOME   UNDER  THE  KINGS. 

ritual,  for  fear  of  omitting  or  transposing  a  word.  A  priest 
followed  the  reading  in  a  second  book,  in  order  to  be  sure  that  all 
the  sacramental  phrases  were  said  aright ;  another  saw  that  absolute 
silence  was  observed  among  the  bystanders ;  lastly,  a  musician 
drowned  with  the  modulations  of  liis  flute  every  sound  which 
could  have  broken  the  charm  attached  to  the  words  that  the 
officiating  person  recited.^ 

The  feeling  of  religion  has  submitted  to  much  slavery,  but 
never  has  it  been  enchained  in  such  strict  bonds.  It  might  be 
thouglit  that  Rome,  like  a  certain  famous  institution,  was  afraid 
of  religious  excitement,  if  we  did  not  know  that  in  this  institution 
the  regulation  of  piety  is  the  result  of  policy,  whereas  with  the 
Romans  it  was  the  spontaneous  production  of  the  national  character. 
But  if  this  childish  credulity  lowers  the  spirit  of  the  people,  it  yet 
renders  them  very  easy  to  govern ;  and  the  vigorous  devotional 
discipline,  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  religious  feeling,  produced 
citizens  in  whom  respect  for  the  rules  of  the  temple  long  inspired 
respect  for  the  law  in  the  Forum. 

We  may  make  another  remark :  these  divinities  of  Rome 
appear  less  beautiful,  but  more  moral,  than  those  of  Greek 
polytheism ;  ^   and  the  Fathers  of    the  Church  consider  the   religion 

1  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist,  xxviii.  3.  Here  is  the  longest  passage  left  us  of  the  old  historian 
Fabius  Pietor.  At  the  same  time  may  be  seen  the  poverty  of  this  ancient  literature,  the 
miserable  state  of  men's  minds,  and  how  grievous  was  that  sacerdotal  slavery  in  which  there  is 
nowhere  felt  beating  a  truly  religious  heart.  "  It  is  a  crime  for  the  flamen  of  Jupiter  to 
ride  on  horseback  or  to  see  the  centuries  under  arms ;  thus  he  rarely  has  been  named  consul. 
He  is  not  permitted  to  take  an  oath  ;  the  ring  he  wears  must  be  hollow  and  of  open  work.  No 
fire  must  be  carried  from  his  house  but  the  sacred  fire.  If  a  man  enters  that  house  bound,  he 
must  be  unbound,  and  the  bonds  must  be  carried  through  the  inner  court  up  the  roof  and 
thrown  into  the  street.  The  llamen  has  no  knot  about  him,  either  on  his  cap,  his  girdle,  or  any 
other  part.  If  a  man  who  is  going  to  be  beaten  with  rods  falls  at  his  feet  as  a  suppliant,  the 
guilty  one  cannot  be  beaten  without  sacrilege  that  day.  None  but  a  freeman  can  cut  a  flauien's 
hair.  He  never  touches  or  names  a  shcrgoat,  raw  flesh,  hare,  or  beans.  He  must  not  clip  the 
tendrils  of  tlic  ^  ine  that  chmb  too  high.  The  feet  of  the  bed  he  sleeps  in  must  be  plastered 
with  mud.  He  never  quits  it  three  consecutive  nights,  and  no  one  else  has  the  right  to  sleep 
therein.  There  must  not  be  near  the  woodwork  of  his  bed  a  bo.\  with  sacred  cakes  in  it.  The 
parings  of  his  nails  and  the  cuttings  of  his  hair  are  covered  with  earth  at  the  foot  of  a  fruitr 
tree  For  him  all  days  are  holy  days.  He  is  not  allowed  to  go  into  the  open  air  without  the 
apex :  and  even  as  to  remaining  bareheaded  under  his  own  roof,  the  pontiffs  have  only  (piite 
recently  decided  that  he  may  do  so."  (Aulus  Gellius,  Noct.  Att.  x.  15.)  Another  example 
of  this  minute  and  childish  formalism  is  furnished  by  Table  xli.  of  Marini.  (Atti  e  monumenti 
de'  Fratetii  Arvati)  [One  might  imagine  this  page  of  old  Fabius  taken  out  of  the  Zend- 
avesta  or  from  the  laws  of  Mauu.  —  Ed.} 

■■'  See  page  124. 


RELIGION  AND  RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS. 


221 


of  Numa  to  have  been  a  decent  religion.^  Yet  the  Roman  gods 
do  not  require  their  believers  to  practise  justice.  The  i)urity 
they  exact  is  bodily  purity,  castitas?  They  may  be  approached 
without  repentance,  but  not  with  unwashed  face  or  hands,  or 
stained  raiment.  Thus  a  clean  toga  is  necessary  for  festivals ; 
and  ablutions  and  Ijaths  were  an  act  of  piety  before  they  were  a 
matter  of  health.  It  might  even  be  said  that  the  thermae,  the 
architectural  glory  of  Rome,  are  derived, 
like  her  theatres  and  circuses,  from  a 
religious  idea.  Between  these  gods  and 
mankind  there  was  but  a  bond  of  interest. 
They  wished  to  be  honored,  and,  like  a 
patron  proud  of  the  great  numl^er  of  liis 
clients,  they  required  that  the  crowd  should 
surround  their  altars ;  they  demanded  sacri- 
fices and  libations,  songs  and  sacred  dances, 
wreaths  of  flowers  and  foliage  round  their 
temples  and  altars,  and  a  numerous  attendance,  that  their  dignity 
might  be  raised  among  the  gods,  and  their  credit  among  men. 
In  return  they  promised  protection,  and  as  they  were  feared,  men 
sought  to  appease  them.  As  it  was  thought 
they  could  give  health,  fortune,  and  victory, 
men  performed  all  the  acts  which  could  con- 
strain them  to  grant  prosperity. 

The  Roman  did  not  love  his  gods,  and  they 
did  not  live  in  him,  did  not  purify  his  heart 
or  elevate  his  soul.  Religion  was  a  bargain, 
and  worship  a  contract  in  due  form ;  a  quid  pro 
quo.  Plautus  bluntly  says  so :  "  He  who  has 
made  the  gods  propitious  always  gains  large  profits."^  This 
piety,    which    calculates    so    exactly,    shows    us    that    the    people 


GARLANDS    OF    LEAVES 
ROUND    A    TEMPLE.' 


VESTA    HOLDING    THE 
PALLADIUM    AND    A 

SCEPTRE.^ 


1  Tertull..  Apol.  25. 

^  Casta  jAacenl  superis :  pura  cum  veste  venite.  (Tibullus,  U.  i.  13.)  Auliis  GeUiii.s  (ii. 
xxviii.)  says  :  Veteres  Romani  .  .  .  in  constiiuendis  religionibus  .  .  .  castissimi,  cautissimique. 
The  lustratio,  one  of  the  greatest  rehgious  acts  of  Rome,  and  one  of  the  oldest,  was  at  first  a 
purification  by  water.     This  word  comes  from  the  verb  luo,  to  wash,  wipe  out. 

'  DIVO  AVG.  S.  C.     Sacrifice  before  the  temple.     Large  bronze  coin  of  Caligula. 

*  Large  bronze  of  Sabina,  wife  of  Hadrian. 

'  CurcuUo,  TV.  ii.  45. 


222  ROME   UNDEK   THE   KINGS. 

lacked  certain  high    qualities    of    mind ;  having  no  religious   spirit, 
they  had    in   later   times   no    philosophic   spirit. 

Vesta,  however,  had  brought  virgin  purity  into  honor ;  Juno 
and  all  the  other  goddesses  of  marriage  or  nurture  had  done  the 
same  for  the  wisdom  and  devotion  of  matrons ;  the  Lares  loved 
domestic    virtues ;    the    Manes    concord    in    families ;    Fides,    good 

faith  in  contracts ;  Terminus,  respect  for  all 
rights ;  and  with  the  exception  of  certain 
rustic  divinities,  who  delighted  in  gayety  and 
laughter  —  who  allowed  even  far  more  —  all  the 
gods  had  the  Roman  gravity.  Still  we  should 
not  go  as  far  as  to  repeat  what  is  said  of 
this  religion,  "  that,  like  the  philosophy  of 
T,,^x,=  ^    „.  1      Socrates,   it    brought  divinity   down  to  earth, 

FIDES,    OR    GOOD    FAITH.'  '  O  J  ' 

and  obliged  it  to  regulate  the  life  and  man- 
ners of  men."  The  Socratic  philosophy  was  a  mighty  effort  of 
reflection ;  the  Roman  religion,  on  the  contrary,  sprang  spon- 
taneously from  customs ;  and  in  primitive  ages  customs  precede 
belief,  which  in  their  turn  preserves  them.  The  Latino-Sabine 
populations,  among  whom  the  family  tie  was  so  strong,  created 
domestic  gods  who  never  can  be  immoral,  and  their  agricultural 
life  compelled  them  to  have  gods  who  protected  property  and 
agreements.  Before  he  was  carried  to  the  ends  of  the  field  to 
serve  as  the  sacred  boundary.  Terminus  had  risen  from  the  furrow 
opened   by  the   Latin   plough. 


V.   Sacerdotal  Colleges. 

Thus  the  Roman  religion  is  twofold  in  its  nature.  There 
is  that  of  the  state,  or  of  society  as  a  whole,  and  that  of 
individual  persons ;  but  there  exists  a  very  good  understanding 
between  the  two,  because  in  the  main  it  is  the  same  thing 
answering  to  two  different  needs.  The  family  has  its  Penates, 
which  the   state  respects ;    the    city  its  gods,  which    private    indi- 

'  FIDES  AVGVST.  S.  C.  Good  Faith,  standing,  holding  some  ears  of  corn  and  a 
basket  of  fruit.     Large  bronze  of  Plotina. 


BELIGION   AND  RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS. 


223 


viduals  honor  not  only  by  associating  themselves  with  the  public 
ceremonies  of  their  worship,  but  by  particular  devotions  to  such 
and  such  a  divinity,  by  sacrifices  at  such  and  such  a  temple.      In 


1.  Lituus,  or  augur's  baton.  2.  Secespita,  or  sacrificial  knife.  3.  Patera.  4.  Sacrificial  vase, 
wrongly  coufounded  with  the  pracfcricuhim,  which  had  no  handle.  5.  Simpulum,  small  cup  employed 
in  libations.  6.  Sprinkler.  7.  .-lyiej-,  or  flamen's  cap.  8.  Tripod  surmounted  by  the  cortma.  9.  Axe 
with  wol£'s  head,  for  killing  great  victims. 

INSTRUMENTS    OF    SACRIFICE  ;     TAKEN    FROM    VARIOUS    COINS    IN    THE    CABINET 

DE    FRANCE. 


addressing  one  of  the  gods  of  the  city,  there  is  no  need  of  a  medi- 
ator. "  The  Aruspiciiim,"  says  Varro,-*  "  enjoins  that  each  should 
sacrifice  according  to  his  own  custom,  —  suo  quisque  ritu  sacrificium 
faciat ;  "  and  this  principle  constituted  the  religious  tolerance  of  the 
Romans,  so  long  as  they  did  not  believe  that  the  state  was  threat- 
ened by  particular  religions.     When  the  father  of  the   family,  who 


^  De  Ling.  Lat.  vii.  38.     Cicero  also  says,  ritu.-i  farniliae  patrunique  .  .  .  that  must  be  pre- 
served, adis  ijuaai  traditam  rcUgionem.     (De  Leg.  ii.  11.) 


224 


ROME  UNDER   THE  KINGS. 


was  sovereign  pontiff  in  liis  own  house,  had  recourse  to  the  priest, 
it  was  to  assure  himself  that  he  properly  carried  out  all  the  rites, 
and  employed  the  forms  necessary  to  constrain  the  divine  will  in 
his  favor .^  Hence  it  resulted  that  all  the  priests,  though  appointed 
for  life^  and  forming  particular  colleges,  remained,  as  senators  and 
magistrates,  active  members  of  society,  and  as  citizens  subject  to 
the  law  and  its  representatives.^ 

If  then  religion  and  its  ministers  were,  at  Rome,  closely  con- 
nected with  political  matters,  it  was  not  by  ruling  them,  but  in 
remaining  subordinate  to  them.  This  dependence  lasted  as  long 
as  pagan  Rome ;  thence  came  her  superiority  in  government  and 
her  inferiority  in  art  and  poetry,  which  in  Greece  were  born  in 
the  precincts  of  the  temples. 

Neither  special    knowledge   nor   peculiar  vocation  was    required 

of  those  who  desired  to  be 
priests.  If  Rome  had  a  clergy, 
she  had  no  sacerdotal  class 
possessing  great  wealth  or  re- 
ceivmg  tithes ;  and  no  religious 
interest  was  recognized  apart 
from  state  interest.  The  au- 
gurs could  only  consult  auspices 
on  the  order  of  the  magistrates ; 
and  it  was  forbidden  to  reveal 
an  oracle  to  the  people  unless 
the  Senate  had  authorized  it.^ 
"Our  ancestors,"  says  Cicero,  "were  never  wiser  or  better  inspired 
by  the  gods  than  when  they  settled  that  the  same  persons 
should  preside  over  religion   and  the  government  of  the  Republic. 


ANCILIA,    OR    SHIELDS    OK    MARS.* 


'  M.  Bouche-Leclerccj  (^Les  Pontifes  de  I'ancienne  Rome)  very  justly  remarks  that  at 
Rome  the  priest  only  figures  in  religious  solemnities  as  the  master  of  ceremonies. 

-  riiny,  Ep.  iv.  8. 

^  Only  the  iluumriri  snrri.s  fucuimlis,  afterward  the  decemvirs,  the  interpreters  of  the 
Sibylline  Books,  the  ilamen  of  Jupiter,  and,  after  tlie  commencement  of  the  Republic,  the  rex 
sacrormn,  could  fulfil  no  other  public  charge.  The  Vestals  were  also  devoted  to  the  altar ;  yet 
they  could,  after  thirty  years  of  duty,  re-enter  civil  life.  The  pontiff  and  augurs  once  claimed 
to  be  exempt  from  the  taxes  imposed  on  other  citizens ;  but  the  quaestors  forced  them  to  pay. 
(Livy,  xxxiii.  42.) 

*  Taken  from  a  gem  in  the  collection  of  Florence. 

'  Dlonys.,  xxxLx.  5. 


EELIGION   AND    RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS. 


225 


"  1 


By  this  means  magistrates  and  pontiffs  unite  to  save  the  state 
There  was,  then,  no  dependence  of  either  of  these  two  powers 
upon  the  other.  The  state  and  religion  were  one,  and  as  later 
the  different  functions  of  these  innumerable  gods  could  quite 
logically  become  simple  attributes  of  one  divinity,  the  state  did 
not  feel  itself  threatened  l^y  the  elastic  interpretation  of  creeds; 
and  there  existed  at  Rome,  when  philosophic  thought  was  brought 
thither  from  Greece,  that  religious  liberty 
which  churches  with  precise  dogmas  will 
not    and    cannot    recognize. 

The  most  highly  honored  of  these  priests 
were  the  three  flamens,  or  lighters  of  the 
altars  of  Jupiter,  Mars,  and  Quirinus,  who 
could  not  appear  in  public  or  in  the  open 
air,  even  in  the  courtyard  of  their  houses, 
without  the  apex,  the  sign  of  their  priest- 
hood ;  ^  the  three  augurs,^  the  sacred  inter- 
preters of  omens ;  the  Vestals,  guardians 
of  the  public  hearth,  the  fire  whereof  must 
never  die ;  the  twelve  Salii,  or  leapers,*  keepers  of  the  Ancilia, 
who  every  year  in  the  month  of  March  danced  the  war-dance, 
and  as  soon  as  war  was  declared,  entered  the  temple  of  the 
"  God  who  slays,"  to  strike  his  bronze  shield  with  their  pikes, 
crying,  "  Mars,  awake !  "  the  twelve  Fratres  Arvales,  or  brothers 
of  the  fields,  priests  of  Dea-Dia,  a  Telluric  divinity ;  and  finally 
the  four  pontiffs,®    who,  free    from    all    control,  and    rendering    no 


FRATER    ARVALIS.* 


1  Pro  domo,  i. 

'  The  same  obligation  was  imposed  on  the  Salii.  Cf.  the  fr.agment  of  Fubius  Pictor, 
above  quoted  (page  220). 

^  Afterward  four,  then  nine,  in  the  year  .300  b.  c.  ;  finally  fifteen  under  Sulla  and  sixteen 
under  Caesar.  I  do  not  sj)eak  of  the  aruspiees,  who  did  not  form  a  college  in  the  st.ate. 
They  were  diviners,  whom  generals  took  with  them,  and  whom  priv.ate  individuals  consulted. 

*  For  the  ceremonies  of  their  worship,  the  Arvales  surrounded  their  heads  with  a  crown 
of  ears  of  corn,  held  together  by  fillets  of  white  wool.  The  head  of  their  college  was  called 
magister,  and  under  the  Empire  the  Emperors  took  the  office.  The  figure  given  .above  repre- 
sents Marcus  Aurelius  as  a  Frater  Arv.alis. 

'  On  the  first  day  of  the  month,  which  Ijore  the  name  of  their  god,  the  Salii  passed  through 
the  quarters  of  Rome,  stopping  before  the  aedicula,  or  resting  places,  to  perform  their  rites. 
This  procession,  which  lasted  several  days,  was  interspersed  with  dances  and  songs  in  honor  of 
the  gods ;  perhaps,  too,  in  honor  of  some  great  citizens.  In  the  time  of  Varro  (de  Ling.  Lat. 
vii.  3)  no  one  any  longer  understood  the  SaHarin  corniina  and  axemen/a. 

^  Four  at  first,  then  eight ;  fifteen  under  Sulla,  and  an  indefinite  number  under  the  Empire 

VOL.  I.  15 


226  EOME    UNDEE   THE   KINGS. 

account  to  either  Senate  or  people,  watched,  under  the  presidency 
of  the  high  pontiff,  over  tlie  maintenance  of  the  laws  and  reh- 
gious  institutions ;  they  also  settled  the  calendar,  and  which  days 
were  lucky  or  luilucky,  —  thus  rendering  the  administration  of  justice 
and  the  holding  of  the  comitia  to  a  certain  extent  dependent  upon 
them.  On  the  day  that  the  new  moon  showed  her  golden  sickle  in 
the  heavens,  one  of  the  pontiffs,  called  (calare)  the  people  together 
on  the  Capitol,  and  taught  them  how  many  days  to  reckon  from 
the  kalends  to  the  nones.^  On  the  day  of  the  nones  another  pon- 
tiff announced  the  festivals  to  be  celebrated  during  the  month, 
—  an  announcement  which  is  made  on  Sundays  in  our  churches. 
Finally,  the  pontiffs  kept  the  record  of  sacred  acts,  phenom- 
ena, and  all  events  which  appeared  to  have  a  religious  character; 
hence    came    the    Gi'eat   Aniials. 

The  Vestals  were  at  first  four  in  number,  two  for  each  tril^e ; 
after  the  addition  of  the  Luceres  there  were  six.  When  a  vacancy 
occurred  in  the  college,  the  King,  as  chief  pontiff,  chose  twenty 
young  patrician  maidens  of  from  six  to  ten  years  of  age,  without 
any  blemish,  and  who  seemed  to  promise  beauty.  The  lot,  as 
representing  the  divine  will,  designated  which  of  them  was  to  be 
consecrated  priestess.  When  the  selection  was  made,  the  head 
pontiff"  took  the  hand  of  the  chosen  one :  "  I  take  thee,"  he  said  ; 
"  thou  shalt  be  priestess  of  Vesta,  and  shalt  perform  the  sacred 
rites  for  the  safety  of  the  Roman  people."  Then  he  led  her  to 
the  regia,  the  sacerdotal  dwelling,  where  her  locks  fell  beneath 
the  shears,^  and  where  her  sisters  clad  her  in  white.  It  was  our 
modern  taking   of   the  veil. 

The  virgins  of  Vesta  watched  by  turns  over  the  maintenance 
of  the  fire  which  burned  night  and  day  on  her  altar.     If  it  should 

^  The  Roman  year  seems  to  have  at  first  counted  only  ten  months,  —  March,  A|)ril,  May, 
June,  the  v.,  vi.,  viii.,  ix.,  and  xth  months.  Those  latter,  from  the  seventh  to  the  tenth,  have 
not  changed  their  name ;  we  still  s<ay  September,  October,  November,  and  December.  Livy 
(i.  19)  attributes  to  Nunia  the  division  of  the  year  of  3J5  days  into  twelve  lunar  months, 
with  the  insertion  of  complementary  months,  which  at  the  end  of  nineteen  years  put  the 
lunar  year  in  agreement  with  the  solar.  Each  month  was  divided  into  three  parts,  the 
kalends,  which  marked  the  first  day,  the  nones  (nuHua,  ninth),  which  comprised  the  nine 
days  preceding  the  ides,  and  these  (iihiare,  to  divide)  which  began  in  the  middle  of  the  month, 
the  last  day  of  which  was  called  the  eve  of  the  kalends. 

-  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.  xvi.  85.  The  regia,  which  was  asserted  to  ho  the  house  of  Numa, 
was  the  head  pontiff's  residence ;  behind  it  were  the  atrium  and  temple  of  Vesta. 


RELIGION  AND  KELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS. 


227 


happen  to  go  out.  it  was  a  terrible  omen  for  Rome ;  she  who 
had  been  guihy  of  the  neglect  was  beaten  with  rods  in  a  dark 
place  by  the  chief  pontiif,  who  afterward  re-lighted  the  fire  by 
rubbing  together  two  pieces  of  wood  taken  from  a 
tree  of  good  fortune,  felix  arbos ;  in  later  times,  by  /./'  SILA\" 
concentrating  in  a  metal  vase  the  rays  of  the  sun.' 
They  had  to  make  libations,  offer  sacrifices,  and  per- 
form a  strange  ceremony,  which  doubtless  had  some 
connection  with  their  vow  of  virginity.  When,  on 
the  loth  of  April,  the  pontiffs  immolated  thirty  pregnant  cows, 
the  embryos  were  taken  and  committed  to  the  Chief  Vestal,  who 
burned  them  and  carefully  kept  the  cinders,  which  she  distributed 
among  the  people  on  the  day  of  the  Palilia,  that  they  might  make 
expiatory  offerings  of  them.^  Every  morning  they  cleansed  the 
temple  with  water  drawn  from  the  fountain 
of  Egeria  in  a  vessel  with  a  large  mouth  and 
ending  in  a  point,  futile,  so  that  it  could  not 
be  set  down  on  the  ground  without  the  water 
being  spilled.  They  had  the  protection  of  Fas- 
cinus,  the  god  who  averts  evil  spells,  and  that      futile,  vase  of  the 

VESTALS.^ 

of   the  holy  relics,  pledges  of  the  duration  of 

empire,  fatale  pignus  im2ieru?  These  relics,  preserved  in  the  most 
secret  place  of  the  sanctuary,  were  the  Palladium,  a  shapeless 
statuette  of  Pallas,  and  the  fetiches  which  were  said  to  have  been 
brought  from  Samothrace  to  Troy  by  Dardanus,  and  from  Troy  to 
Italy  by  Aeneas.  The  Chief  Vestal,  maxima  virgo,  alone  penetrated 
this  holy  of  holies. 

Their  functions  lasted  thirty  years,  at  the  end  of  which  the 
Vestals  could  re-enter  the  world,  and  even  marry ;  but  very  few 
took  advantage  of  this  right ;  they  ended  their  lives  near  the 
goddess  to  whom  they  had  vowed  then-  virginity.      As  a  compen- 

*  Dionys.  ii.  67;  Plut.,  Kuma,  10;  Festus,  s.  v.  Peniis  Vestae.  The  arhorcs  fcllces  were, 
however,  rather  numerous,  —  the  oak,  the  holm-oak,  the  beech,  the  mountain-ash. 

'^  Taken  from  the  Cabinet  de  France. 

'  Ovid,  Fast.  iv.  629,  seq.  Mention  has  been  made  (page  139)  of  the  twenty  argei,  or 
figures  of  men  in  wicker-work,  which  were  thrown  by  the  Vestals  into  the  Tiber  every  year. 

*  Servius  (arf  Aen.  xi.  339)  asserts  that  hence  comes  the  word  futilis,  designating  a 
man  incapable  of  keeping  what  is  confided  to  liim.  Taken  from  the  Catalogue  Durand  by 
M.  de  Witte. 

'  Livy,  XX vi.  27. 


228   '  ROME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

sation  for  this  sacrifice,  they  received  the  greatest  respect  and 
enjoyed  great  honors.  Free  from  all  ties  of  relationship,  that  is, 
released  from  paternal  restraint,  jmtria  potestas, 
and  from  the  guardianship  of  their  kin,  they  could 
receive  legacies  and  dispose  of  their  goods  by 
testament.  In  covu'ts  of  justice  they  made  depo- 
sitions without  being  obliged  to  take  the  oath. 
On  meeting  them,  the  magistrate  had  the  fasces 
lowered ;  and  the  criminal  being  led  to  punish- 
ment was  set  free,  provided  they  declared  they 
,     had  accidentally  crossed  his  path. 

THE   PALLADIUM.^  •'  i 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  what  a  horrible  death 
if  they  broke  their  vow !  At  the  extremity  of  the  Quirinal, 
between  the  Colline  gate  and  the  place  where  afterward  stood 
the  famous  gardens  of  Sallust,  was  the  "accursed  field,"  campus 
sceleratus.  There  was  dug  an  underground  chamber,  wherein  the 
guilty  priestess  was  to  be  buried  alive.  Placed  on  the  bier,  which 
was  surrounded  with  thick  coverings  to  stifle  her  cries,  she  was 
borne  with  mournful  pomp  across  the  Forum,  through  the  silent 
crowd,  to  the  vault,  wherein  were  placed  a  bed,  a  lighted  lamp, 
some  bread,  a  little  water,  milk,  and  oil,  provisions  for  one  day, 
in  an  eternal  prison,  the  mocking  help  of  a  piety  unwilling  to 
have  to  give  an  account  to  Vesta  of  the  murder  of  one  of  her 
virgins  !  When  the  funeral  train  had  arrived  at  the  place  of 
torture  the  high  priest  uttered  secret  prayers  ;  then  the  l^ier  was 
opened,  and,  wrapped  in  her  white  veils  as  in  a  shroud,  the  victim 
descended  by  a  ladder  uito  her  tomb,  the  opening  of  which  was 
speedily  covered  by  the  slaves.  The  earth  was  studiously  levelled, 
in  order  that  nothing  might  reveal  the  place  where,  in  the 
dark  night  and  cold  of  the  grave,  the  Vestal  expiated  a  sacrilege 
which  perchance  she  had  never  committed.  No  one  came  there 
to  make  those  libations  which  the  poorest  offered  to  the  Manes.^ 
She  was  cut  off  at  once  from  the  world  of  the  living  and  of 
the  dead. 

When  the  sentence  was  accomplished,  the  crowd  slowly  melted 

^  After  a  silver  coin  of  the  Julian  family. 

^  In  the  time  of  Plutarch,  however  (Quaest.  Rom.  96),  the  priests  came  thither  to  perform 
expiations. 


EELIGION  AND  EELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS. 


229 


away,  some  deeply  moved  by  the  terrible  end  of  a  beautiful  and 
noble  girl,  devoted  from  infancy  to  a  dread  office ;  tlie  greater 
number  convinced  that  evils  which  had  threatened  Eome  had 
been  averted  by  a  necessary  sacrifice. 

Vesta  did  not  always  abandon  her  priestesses.  Aemilia  was 
about  to  be  condemned  to  death  for  having  intrusted  the  duty  of 
keeping  up  the  aacred  fire  to  a  novice 
who  had  let  it  go  out.  After  having 
implored  the  goddess,  the  Vestal  tore  a 
strip  from  her  robe  and  threw  it  on  the 
cold  cinders,  when  the  fire  blazed  up  again.^ 
Another,  Tuccia,  accused  of  incest,  cried 
out :  "  0  Vesta !  if  I  have  ever  approaclu'd 
thy  altar  with  clean  hands,  grant  me  a 
sign  to  prove  my  innocence ; "  and  taking 
a  sieve,  she  went  down  to  the  Tiber,  filled 
it  with  water,  and  came  back  again  to 
pour  it  at  the  feet  of  the  pontiffs.^  An 
engraved  gem  has  preserved  the  remem- 
brance of  this  miracle,  for  each  college  of 
priests  made  a  point  of  having  one  of  its  own ;  and  these  legends, 
by  attesting  divine  intervention,  freed  the  conscience  of  the  Romans 
from  the  remorse  of  having  condemned  the  innocent  to  a  fright- 
ful death,  when  their  merciless  policy  demanded  a  victim  to  calm 
popular  terror. 

The  honors  paid  to  the  Vestal  virgins  corresponded  with  the 
religious  importance  of  the  worship  which  took  place  round  this 
public  hearth,  whereon  the  fire  must  never  go  out.*  But  to  the 
religious  idea  which  had  at  first  determined  the  conditions  imposed 
on  the  priestesses  was  added,  as  a  natural  consequence,  a  moral 
idea,  —  only  virgins  could  keep  it  up.  This  eternal  flame,  which  sym- 
bolized the  very  life  of  the  Roman  people,  and  the  institution  of 
the  College  of  Vestals,  was  an  involuntary  glorification  of  chastity ; 
and  in  the  days  of  faith  this  belief  must  have  had  a  happy 
influence  on  manners. 

1  Dionys.,  ii.  68 ;  Val.  Max.,  I.  i.  7.         ^  Val.  Max.,  VIII.  i.  5 ;   Pliny,  Nat.  Hist,  xxviii.  2. 
'  Montfaucon,  /In/.  Expl.  i.  pi.  xxviii.,  Supplem.  i.  pi.  xxiii. 
*  Cic,  De  Ley.  ii.  8  :  iijneiH  foci publici  scmpilernum. 


THE    VESTAL    TUCCIA.' 


230     ■  EOME   UNDEE   THE   KINGS. 

The  twenty  fetiales,  elected  for  life,  and  taken  from  the  most 
noble  families,  formed  a  college  at  once  political  and  religious, 
which  presided  over  international  acts.  When  Rome 
thought  she  had  a  right  to  complain  of  some  nation, 
a  fetialis  —  called,  for  the  occasion,  the  i^f^i^i'  patratus 
of  the  Roman  people  —  was  sent  out.  He  set  forth, 
on  his  head  a  fillet  of  white  wool  and  a  crown  of 
VESTALS  KiHixD    vervaiu,  which  he  had  culled  on  the  Capitol.     When 

THE   ALTAR.'  _  '<■    ^  ^ 

he  arrived  at  the  enemy's  frontier  he  cried :  "  Hear 
me,  Jupiter !  Hear  me,  God  of  boundaries !  And  thou,  sacred 
oracle  of  right  (fas),  hear.  I  am  the  messenger  of  the  Roman 
people ;  I  come  in  all  justice,  and  my  words  deserve  all  trust." 
Then  he  enumerated  the  grievances  of  the  Romans,  bearing  witness 
by  solemn  imprecations  that  they  were  well  founded.  "  If  it  is 
against  right  and  my  conscience  that  I  demand  these  persons  and 
these  things  to  be  delivered  up  to  me,  the  messenger  of  the 
Roman  people,  may  Jupiter  never  permit  me  to  return  into  my 
country."  Advancing  into  the  enemy's  country,  he  addressed  the 
same  words  to  the  first  inhabitant  whom  he  met,  then  to  those 
whom  he  found  at  the  gates  of  the  principal  city,  and  finally  in 
the  forum  to  the  magistrates.  If,  at  the  end  of  thirty-three  days, 
satisfaction  had  not  been  accorded  him,  he  cried :  "  Hearken, 
Jupiter,  and  thou,  Janus  Quirinus,  and  all  ye  gods  of  heaven, 
earth,  and  the  lower  regions,  I  take  you  to  witness  that  this 
nation  is  unjust  and  violates  right.  How  shall  we  avenge  out- 
raged right?  Our  old  men  will  decide."  And  he  returned  to 
Rome.  If  the  Senate  and  people  decided  to  have  recourse  to  arms, 
the  fetialis  went  back  to  the  enemy's  frontier  bearing  a  javeliu, 
the  end  of  which  had  been  burned  and  reddened  in  blood,  and 
there  cast  this  threat  of  fire  and  carnage,  announcing  at  the 
same  time  the  opening  of  hostilities.  At  a  later  period,  and 
until  the  time  of  the  Empire,  when  the  enemy  was  on  the  Elbe 
and  Euphrates,  the  fetialis  performed  the  same  ceremonies,  but 
without  going  out  of  Rome.  On  the  Field  of  Mars,  near  the 
Temple  of  Bellona,  rose  the  column  of  war,  which  represented 
the    limit   of   the    Roman    frontier.       There    the    fetialis    cast    his 

1  Gold  coin  from  the  Cabinet  de  France. 


RELIGION   AND   RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS. 


231 


bloody  javelin,  and  Rome  thought  she  had  conscientiously  per- 
formed all  the  rites  which  obliged  the  gods  to  grant  her  vic- 
tory. 

At  the  sacrifice  offered  on  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty,  the  fetialia 
killed  the  victim  with  a  flint  stone,  —  the 
stone  whence  sparks  flashed,  and  which,  on 
account  of  this  property,  was  often  placed 
in  the  hand  of  Jujiiter,  instead  of  the 
darts  which  represented  lightning-flashes.^ 

The  greater  number  of  sacerdotal  col- 
leges filled  up  vacancies  by  co-option,  that 
is  to  say,  the  survivors  made  the  election." 
This  was  one  means  of  preserving  secret 
the  traditions  of  the  corporation.  The 
flamens  were  designated,  like  the  Vestals, 
by  the    chief   pontiff. 

To  aid  the  priests  in  the  holy  ceremonies 
there  were  associated  with  them  children  of 
noble  family  and  perfect  beauty,  to  Avhom 
was  given  the  name  of  camilli,  borne  by 
Mercury,  the  messenger  of  the  gods.*  The 
divinities  of  Greece,  especially  also  those  of  Rome,  were  thought 
to  be  much  impressed  by  beauty,  which  was  one  of  their  gifts. 
They  exacted  it  in  their  priests,  and  were  offended  if  they 
were  not  served  by  the  most  perfect  attendance ;  e.  (j.  Juno,  who, 
"  in  the  belief  of  many,"  says  Valerius  Maximus,^  "  made  Varro 
lose  the  battle  of  Cannae  because  he  had  given  the  care  of  the 
temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus  to  a  most  beautiful  young  man,  whom 
she  wished  to  see  attached  to  her  own  altar."  We  have  pre- 
served somewhat  of  this  respect  for  the  work  of  God  in  those 
who  consecrate  themselves  to  his  service ;  certain  bodily  defects 
are   an   obstacle    to    ordination. 

The   expenses   of  worship   and   the  maintenance  of   the   priests 

1  Arnobius,  vi.  25. 
''■  Cicero,  Phil.  xiii.  5,  and  Brut.  1. 

'  This  Caraillus,  or  servitor  of  the  pontiffs,  seems  to  carry  the  sprinkler  in  liis  left  band, 
and  in  liis  right  the  situUi,  or  pail,  containing  the  water  necessary  for  the  ceremony. 

*  Pne.rl  seu  puellae,  ingenui,  felicissimi,  patrimi  malrimique.     Cf.  Fest.,  s.  v.  Flaminius. 
6  I.  i.  IG. 


CAMILLUS.^ 


232  KOIVIE   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

were  provided  for  by  a  certain  tract  of  land  assigned  to  each  temple.^ 
In  later  times  the  state  even  allowed  a  subsidy.^ 

The  domestic  worship  of  cei'tain  fa:uilies  also  made  part  of 
the  public  worship  of  the  city  ;  as,  for  instance,  the  Lnjjercalia,  of 
which  the  gentes  Fabia  and  Quinctia  held  the  hereditary  priest- 
hood, and  the  sacrifices  in  honor  of  Hercules,^  which  must  be 
performed  by  Pinarians  or  Potitians. 


V.   Public  Festivals. 

The  festivals,  like  the  gods,  were  innumerable ;  for  in  all  ages 
the  ItaUan  has  loved  religious  services,  as  being  a  break  in  the 
monotony  of  ordinary  life,  an  occasion  for  pious  ceremonies,  noisy 
games,  and  meals  in  which  the  poor  spent  the  savings  of  a  whole 
week.  It  will  here  suffice  to  point  out  a  few  which  display  in  a 
distinctive  manner  the   customs  of  ancient  times. 

Certain  festivals,  still  celebrated  in  the  time  of  Caesar,*  and  long 
after,  recalled  the  rural  life,  coarse  manners,  and  selfish  devotion  of 
the  Romans.  From  Pales  they  asked  what  their  descendants  asked 
of  Samt  Antony,  the  health  of  their  flocks ;  of  Lupercus,  the  god- 
wolf  who  protected  the  farm  against  the  terrible  beast  whose  name 
he  bore,  they  asked  their  increase ;  of  Dea-Dia,  an  abundant 
harvest.  On  the  day  of  the  Lupercalia,  the  priests  ran  half-naked 
through  the  town,  armed  with  whijos,  the  thongs  of  wliich  were 
made  with  the  skin  of  the  doer  and  of  dogs  oJi'ered  m  sacrifice  to 
the  god  of  fertility,  and  with  them  they  struck  all  whom  they 
met,  especially  the  women,  who,  by  submitting,  thought  to  escape 
the  opprobrium  of  sterility,  or  to  msure  themselves  a  happy  de- 
livery. On  the  Palilia,  the  shepherds  jumped  thrice  over  a  burning 
haycock,  and  made  their  animals  go  through  the  pungent  smoke. 


1  Dionj-s..  ii.  7 ;  Festiis,  s.  v.  Osnun  ;  Siculus  Flacc,  rle  Cond.  Agror.  p.  23,  ed.  Goes. 

-  To  the  Vestals  (Livy,  i.  20);  to  tlie  augurs  (Dionys.,  ii.  G) ;  and  jirobably  to  other 
colleges.  The  Vestals,  the  pontifex  maximus,  and  the  n-x  nacrorum  had  moreover  a  ilotnus 
puhlica,  or  residence  granted  by  the  state. 

5  The  Roman  Hercules,  who  was  identical  with  tlie  Sabine  Sancus,  and  was  also  the  God 
of  Good  Faith  (meherrnle),  because  he  was  the  strong  god,  took  the  name  of  Kecaranus,  or 
Garanus.     (Aur.  Vic,  Orig.  6 ;  Serv.,  ad  Aen.  vi.  203.) 

*  Plut.,  Caea.  61. 


RELIGION  AND  RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS. 


233 


These  were  the  tires  of  purification.  The  Ambarvalia,  or  lustra- 
tions of  the  fields,  were  performed  in  the  name  of  the  state  by 
the  Fratres  Arvales  before  the  wheat  fell  under  the  sickle,  and 
the  festival  was  renewed  around  each  property.  The  proprietor, 
with  his  head  bound  round  with  an  oak  branch  and  followed  by 
his  kindred  and  slaves,  passed  three  times  round  his  estate,  dancing 
and  singing  hymns  to  the  Italian  Ceres. 

'■  God  of  our  fathers,  we  purify  our  fields  and  those  who  till 
them.  Drive  away  evil  from  our  lands ;  let  not  the  evil  weed 
choke  the  promised  harvest;    let  not  the  slow  sheep  be  in  fear  of 


ANIMALS    BEING    LED    TO   THE    SACRIFICE    OF    THE    srOVKl  VURIUCM.^     BAS-RELIEF    FOUND 

NEAR    THE    COLUMN    OF    PHOCAS. 

the  swift  wolf."  ^  Libations  of  milk  and  honeyed  wine,  —  a  sacrifice 
and  a  feast  at  which  the  victim  was  eaten,  —  terminated  these 
pagan  supplications. 

The  Aniburhdlia  were  the  purification  of  the  town.  Along  the 
walls,  led  by  the  priests  and  preceded  by  the  victims,  rolled  the 
long  procession  of  citizens,  who  in  honor  of  the  solemn  day  were 
clad  in  spotless  togas  and  crowned  with  leaves.  When  the  hymns 
had  ceased,  when  the  victims  had  fallen  under  the  sacred  knife, 
and  the  portion  set  apart  for  the  gods  had  been  burned  on  the 
altar,  these  latter  owed  protection  to  the  gates  and  walls. 

The  people  themselves,  at  the  end  of  the  lustrum,  were  purified 


1  TibuUus,  II.  i.  1 7,  seq. ;  cf.  Verg.,  Georg.  i.  .336-350. 

'  This  word  is  formed  from  the  name  of  the  three  victims,  —  the  hog,  sus ;  the  sheep,  ovis; 
and  the  bull,  taurus. 


234  ■  EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

by  an  expiatory  sacrifice.  Being  convoked  by  the  herald,  they 
assembled  in  the  Field  of  Mars,  whither  the  King,  "  scented  with 
myrrh  and  sweet-smelling  plants,"  had  resorted  at  daybreak  with 
the  servitors,  who  led  a  hog,  a  sheep,  and  a  bull.  Three  times 
he  made  the  round  of  the  assembly,  repeating  hymns  and  prayers ; 
then  he  immolated  the  victims,  and  the  suovetaurile^  was  per- 
formed. Songs,  prayers,  offerings,  were  all  these  good-natured  gods 
demanded  to  keep  them  at  peace  with  their  people. 

In    grave    circumstances,    during    a    pestilence    or   amidst    some 
public  misfortune,   they  admitted  their  people   to  communion  with 
them.       Their  statues  were    carried   to  a  table   ready  sj)read ;    the 
gods  were  laid  upon  couches,  as  at  the  Roman  meals, 
the   goddesses   were    placed    sitting ;    and   the   popular 
imagination,    highly    excited     by    danger,     saw     them 
accept  the  feast,  or  sometimes  turn  away  their  heads 
STATE  BED      froui  It    lu   angcr.^      Is    it  to    some   memory  of   these 
FOR  THE  FES-    gtouy  guests,  still  px-eserved  in  Spain,  that  the  terrible 
LECTisTEK-      Icgcud  of  tlic  commendatorc  (in  Don  Juan),  el   Convi- 
dado  de  jnedra,^  is  due  ? 
Such  Gods  and  such   festivals   show  the  Roman  revelling,  like 
the    Greek,    in    that    intoxication    with    nature    which    the    great 
enchantress  had  offered  to    all   the  Aryan    race,  —  an    intoxication 
delightful  and  fruitful   for  the  sons   of   Homer  and   Plato,   oppres- 
sive and  barren   for  the   sons  of   Romulus ;    for  the  former  found 
therein  a  lovely  and  sublime  ideal,  which  the  latter  never  knew, 
and  of  which  they  only  caught  a  glimpse  on  the  days  when  they 
ceased  to  be  Romans. 

1  Livy,  xl.  59. 

^  Silver  coin  of  the  family  of  Caelia,  with  the  names  of  L.  Caldus,  septemvir  epulonum, 
and  C.  Caldus,  monetary  triumcir. 

*  Magnien,  Les  Origines  du  Thcalre,  i.  252. 


REVERSE    OF    A    BRONZE    PIECE    OF    FAUSTINA    THE   YOUNGER.        VESTA    HOLDING    THE 
PALLADIUM    AND    THE   CUP    FOR    LIBATIONS. 


CHAPTER  IV- 

CHANGES  IN  RELIGION  AND  CONSTITUTION  UNDEE  THE  THEEE  LAST  KINGS. 

I.   The  Gods  of  Etruria  at  Rome  ;  Reforms  of  Tarquin 

THE  Elder. 

THE  third  and  fourth  kings  of  Rome  are  repetitions  of  the 
two  first :  Tullus  is  a  new  Romuhis,  Ancus  a  second  Numa,  — 
a  suspicious  symmetry  which  is  repugnant  to  history,  but  in 
which  legend  delights.  Legend,  however,  attributes  a  special 
characteristic  to  Tullus:  he  completes  the  city,  by  giving  it  its 
military  institutions,  —  militaris  rei  institutor} 

The  reign  of  the  three  last  kings  marks,  on  the  other  hand, 
a  new  era.  Whatever  may  be  the  cause, — be  it  the  peaceful  or 
forcible  settlement  of  some  Etruscan  chief,  or  a  long  period, 
unknown  to  us,  which  prepared  the  transformation,  —  it  is  certain 
that  the  city,  whose  territory  was  only  six  miles  long  by  two 
broad,  has  become  a  great  town,  which  covers  the  seven  hills,  and 
erects  monumental  buildings,  which  counts  its  inhabitants  by  the 
hundred  thousand,  and  extends  its  power  afar ;  and  finally,  which 
replaces  ancient  simplicity  by  the  splendor  of  its  feasts,  its  fetich 
gods  by  the  great  Etruscan  divinities,  and  their  modest  altars  by 
the  Capitol  with  its  hundred  steps. 

Whether  it  was  a  heritage  of  the  Pelasgi,  or,  more  prob- 
ably, borrowed  from  the  Greek  colonies  of  Italy  through  the 
medium  of  the  Campanian  Etruscans,  the  gods  of  Greece  were 
greatly  honored  in  the  southern  cities  of  Etruria.  Thence  they 
came  to  Rome.     Tarquin  the  Elder,  it  is  said,  drove  all  the   gods 

*  Orosius,  ii.  4.  Florus,  i.  3,  also  says :  hie  omnem  militarem  discipUnam  artemque  bellandi 
condidit. 


236    ■ 


ROME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


of  Numa  from  the  Tarpeian,  in  order  to  raise  a  temple  there  to 
the  great  celestial  family,  Jupiter,  Juno,  and  Minerva.  Youth 
alone  and  the  god  Terminus  opposed  it ;  for  the  Roman  people 
was  never  to  grow  old,  nor  its  frontiers  to  recede.  Ceres,  who 
was  identified  with  Pales,  and  whose  priestess  was  always  a 
Greek,  called  from  Naples  or  from  Velia  (Elea)  ^  to  do  the 
duties  of  the  sanctuary  which  was  raised  to  her  after  the 
famine    of    496    B.  c. ;  Diana,    who  was    confounded    with    Feronia, 


JUPITER. 


MINERVA." 


the  protectress  of  the  common  people,^  to  whom  Servius  huilt 
a  temple ;  Vulcan,  whom  Tatius  already  honored ;  Mercury,  the 
plebeian  god  of  the  commerce  which  had  arisen,  and  the  elo- 
quence which  was  to  increase,  offered  a  dangerous  competition  to 
the    native    gods.     Apollo,    Neptune,    Cybele,  and    Venus    did    not 

1  Cic,  pro  Balho,  24. 

*  Dionys.,  iii.  32. 

*  Tliese  three  bronze  statues,  found  in  the  excavations  of  Herculaneum,  are  of  a  compara- 
tively recent  date. 


CHANGES    UNDER   THE   THREE    LAST   KINGS. 


237 


come  till  a  later  period.  The  first  of  these  was  destined  to  high 
fortunes.  The  Sibyl  of  Cumae,  from  whom  Tarqiiinins  Superbus 
bought  the  books,  was  a  priestess  of  Apollo,  the  Redeemer,  so 
called  because  he  knew  the  necessary  expiations.  Under  Augustus, 
ho  took  his  place  by  the   side  of  the  Capitoline  Jupiter. 

Thus  the  sphere  of  religious  life  goes  on  enlarging,  and  it 
becomes  so  wide  that  these  innumerable  divinities  end  by  being 
effaced,  to  make  way  for  the  one  God  of  whom  they  were  only 
the  obscure  manifestations ;  but  then,  too,  there  comes  a  new 
society,  new  ideas,   new  laws ;  in  fact,  another  world. 

As  if  the  gods  of  Greece  carried  art  with  them,  their  en- 
trance into  Rome  was  marked  by  the  first  effort  to  give  to 
the  immortals  dwellings  less  modest  and  an 
appeai'ance  less  I'ude.  Tuscan  workmen  built 
the  great  temple  of  the  Capitol,  and  the 
Etruscan  Tin-rianus  modelled  in  clay  the  statue 
of  Jupiter  which  Tarquin  placed  there.-' 

Etruria  moreover  gave  something  else 
which  properly  belonged  to  her.  The  miracle 
of  the  Tuscan  Navius  diffused  respect  for 
the  augurs  through  the  city.  No  doubt  the 
epoch  when  Rome  adopted  so  many  Etruscan 
customs,  was  that  also  of  the  introduction  of 
the    science    of   aus-urv  as  the  religion  of   the 

~        ^  "  AUGUR. - 

state.      It  was  a  surer   means  of  government, 

inasmuch  as  both  governors  and  governed  put  sincere  faith  in  it. 
In  order  to  study  this  mysterious  art,  some  young  i^atricians  were 
sent  to  Etruria,  and  for  a  long  time  the  augurs  were  only 
taken  from  the  noljlest  families,  from  those  whose  members  filled 
the  Senate  and  the  magistracy.  The  augur,  in  fact,  was  to 
be  at  once  a  sincere  ^   priest    and   a   shrewd    politician :    the  latter 


'  Legendary  history  explains  all  these  Etruscan  importations  by  the  conquest  which  Tar- 
quin the  Elder  made  of  Etruria.  Otf.  ^IviUer  reverses  this  proposition,  and  makes  the  Etrus- 
cans conquer  Rome  and  Latium ;  but  what  is  not  contested  is,  that  the  epoch  of  the  Tarcpiins 
was  marked  by  the  preponderatinn;  influence  in  Rome  of  Etruscan  civilization.  — so  much  so  that 
the  greater  part  of  the  Greek  historians,  says  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus  (i.  29),  regarded 
Rome  as  a  Tyrrhenian  town,  Tuppr/vi'Sa  woXiv  €ivai  vTreXajiov. 

^  At  the  feet  of  the  priest  who  holds  tlie  augur's  rod  is  seen  the  sacred  chicken,  whose 
more  or  less  keen  a]ipetite  served  as  an  auguT-y. 

'  At  an  epoch  when  faith  was  much    shaken,  Tiberius  Gracchus  reading,  in  the  dejrths  of 


238    ■  KOME   UNDER  THE  KINGS. 

inspiring  the  former  and  making  him  vmconsciously  report  from 
heaven  the  divine  decree  most  conformable  to  tlie  interests  of  the 
state. ^ 

This  behef  in  signs  ended  by  making  tlie  Romans  the  most 
religious  people  in  the  universe.  "  It  was,"  said  Polybius,  "  one 
of  the  causes  of  her  greatness."  And  the  friend  of  Scipio  is  right; 
for  this  blind  piety,  if  it  did  not  gain  the  favor  of  the  gods, 
at  least  assured  the  power  of  the  aristocracy,  by  keeping  the 
people  dependent  on  the  most  experienced  and  the  wisest  class. 
Besides,  in  spite  of  their  belief  in  the  augurs,  the  Roman  nobility 
and  its  Senate  never  abandoned  earthly  things  for  religion  till 
human  prudence  had  nothing  left  to  do.  In  case  of  need,  they 
altered  fatal  presages  by  the  freest  interpretations,  without  their 
faith  being  alarmed  thereat.  A  consul  was  about  to  engage  in 
battle,  and  the  diviner  announced  happy  omens;  lie  was  mistaken, 
the  signs  were  contrary.  "  That  concerns  him,"  said  the  consul, 
"  and  not  me  or  my  army,  to  whom  favorable  auspices  have  been 
promised ;"  and  he  engaged  in  action.  At  the  first  encounter  the 
diviner  fell ;  but  the  consul  was  victorious. 

It  was  Tarquin  the  Elder,  too,  who  first  laid  hands  on  the 
old  constitution,  not  to  change  it,  but  to  broaden  its  foundations. 
In  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  j)atricians  and  of  the  augur 
Navius,  he  formed  a  hundred  new  patrician  families,  whose  chiefs 
entered  the  Senate  [patres  minoriim  gentium).  Were  these  the  rich- 
est and  noblest  of  the  plebeians,  or  only  the  chiefs  of  the  Luceres, 

Spain,  the  books  which  treated  of  sacred  things,  discovered  that,  as  president  of  the  con-^ular 
comitia,  he  had  omitted  one  of  the  rites.  He  hastened  to  make  known  this  mistake  to  the  col- 
lege of  augurs,  who  immediately  informed  the  Senate  of  it,  and  the  two  consuls  were  obliged 
to  abdicate.     (Val.  Max.,  I.  i.  3  ;  Plut.,  Marc.  5.) 

^  Auguriis  sacerdotioque  augurum  lanfw<  honos  acccssit,  ut  nihil  belli  doniirjue  poslea  nisi 
auspicatn  gereretur.  (Livy,  i.  3C.)  The  augurs  had  the  right  of  declaring  the  auspices  to 
be  contrary.  Comitiatus  et  concilia,  vel  instituta,  dimittere,  vel  hahita  rescindere  .  .  .  decernere 
ut  magish-atu  se  abdicent  consules.  .  .  .  (Cic,  de  Leg.  ii.  12.)  The  magistrates  had  to  consult 
them  for  all  their  enterprises,  and  quique  non  parnerit,  capital  esto.  (Id.,  de  Leg.  ii.  8.)  But 
prodigies  were  only  referred  to  the  augurs  by  the  order  of  the  Senate,  si  Setiatus  jussil, 
deferunto.  {Ibid.  ii.  9.)  "  The  science  of  augury,"  says  Cicero  el.sewhere,  "has  been  preserved 
for  state  reasons":  .his  auqurum  etsi dieinatinnis  opinione  principio  constitulum  sit,  tamen  posl- 
ea rei  puhlicae  causa  consen^alum  ac  retenlum.  {Be  Dirin.  ii.  35.)  In  De  Republica,  ii.  10 
and  9,  he  says  of  Romulus:  Quum  haec  egregia  duo  Jirmamenta  rei publicae  peper isset,  aus- 
picia  et  Senatum  .  .  .  id  quod  retinemus  hodie  magna  cum  salute  rei  jmblicae.  .  .  .  The 
necessary  information  about  the  augurs  will  be  found  in  Sagho's  Did.  des  Antiq.  Gr.  el 
Rom.,  pp.  550-5G0,  and  about  the  auspices,  Ibid.,  pp.  580-583. 


CHANGES   UNDER  THE   THREE   LAST  KINGS.  239 

until  this  time  kept  out  of  the  Senate,  and  now  admitted  to  it  by 
Tarquin,  the  foreign  king  ?  The  increase  in  the  number  of  Vestals, 
from  four  to  six,  would  seem  to  confirm  the  opinion  that  he  sought 
to  raise  the  tliiixl  tribe  to  an  equality  with  the  original  two.  Cicero, 
however,  affirms  that  the  patriciate  was  doubled ;  ^  and  Livy,  narrat- 
ing the  creation  of  three  new  centuries  of  knights,  calls  them  Ram- 
nenses,  Titienses,  and  Luceres  posteriores.  Thus  we  have  the  first 
and  second  rank  of  Ramnenses,.  Titienses,  and  Luceres;^  as  later 
there  was  a  division  in  the  Senate,  which  is  not  very  clearly  under- 
stood, of  patres  majorum  and  ^:>a^res  minormn  gentium,  the  latter 
voting  after  the  former.  The  method  of  change  is  not  important, 
the  main  fact  being  undoubted  that  the  patriciate  was  radically 
modified  by  Tarquin ;  and  we  may  consider  this  as  a  preparatory 
step  towards  the  great  reforms  inti'oduced  by  Servius. 


II.   Reforms  of  Servius  Tullius. 

We  have  seen^  that  the  Romans  represented  their  sixth  king 
as  specially  under  protection  of  the  gods.  The  Emperor  Claudius, 
who  composed  a  history  of  the  Etruscans,  said  on  one  occasion  in 
the  Senate :  "  Our  writers  maintain  that  Servius  was  the  son  of  a 
slave  named  Ocrisia,  while  Etruscan  annals  represent  him  as  the 
companion-in-arms  of  Caeles  Vibenna,  and  sharing  all  the  latter's 
adventures.  Driven  out  of  Etruria  by  some  unfortunate  turn  of 
events,  these  two  chiefs  established  themselves,  with  what  remained 
of  their  army,  upon  the  Caelian  hill,  which  took  its  name  from 
Caeles  Vibenna.  Servius,  who  in  Etruria  had  borne  the  name  of 
Mastarna,  now  adopted  the  one  by  which  he  is  known  to  us. 
Eventually  he  became  King  of  Rome,  occupying  the  throne  with 
renown    and    for   the   good    of    the   state."  *      A   tomb    at   Vulci, 

^  DupUcavit  ilium  pristinum  patrum  numcrum.  (De  Rep.  ii.  20.)  Cf.  Livy,  i.  36  ;  Val. 
Max.,  III.  iv.  2. 

^  Livy,  i.  36,  aajtnem.  —  Civitas  Romana  in  sex  erat  distributa  partes,  in  primos  secundosque 
Titienses,  Ramnenses,  et  Luceres.  (Festus,  s.  v.  Sex  suffragia.)  Hence  six  Vestals,  Ut  populus 
pro  sua  quaijue  parte  haberet  et  ministram  sacrorum.  (Fest.,  s.  v.  Sex  Vestae  Sacerdotes.) 
This  number  was  never  changed  again.     Cf.  Cic,  tie  Din.  i.  17  ;  Dionys.,  iii.  71. 

8  Page  IGl. 

^  This  discourse  of  Claudius,  of  which  Tacitus  has  given  the  substance,  is  engraved  on  two 


240 


EOME   UNDEE,   THE   KINGS. 


iflf^^Mwk 


discovered  about  twenty  years  since,^  confirms  the  recital  of  the 
imperial  historian,  or  proves,  at  least,  that  this  was  a  national  legend 
in  Etruria.  Upon  a  wall  of  the  tomb  are  represented  two  figures : 
one,  who  extends  his  bound  hands,  the  other,  who  cuts  the  thong,  and 
holds  under  his  arm  the  sword  with  wliich  he  is  about  to  arm  his 
friend.  Their  names  are  written  above  their  heads ;  Caeles  Vibenna 
is  the  captive,  and  his    deliverer  is  Mastarna.     Here  are  the    two 

companions-in-arms,  who  after 
manifold  adventures,  sometimes 
perilous  like  that  represented  in 
the  picture,  arrived  in  Rome, 
where  one  becomes  chief  of  the 
people  of  Mars,  the  other  gives 
his  name  to  the  Caelian  hill. 
It  is  easy  to  understand  that 
Roman  pride  would  greatly 
prefer  the  favorite  of  their 
great  gods  to  this  Etruscan  ad- 
venturer, seeking  fortune  at 
the  point  of  his  sword. 
This  adventurer  was,  however,  a  man  of  peace.  But  one  war 
is  ascribed  to  him,  a  not  very  well  authenticated  campaign  against 
the  people  of  Veii,^  which  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus  transforms 
into  a  victory  over  the  whole  Etruscan  nation.  Servius  is,  above 
all,  the  legislator.  But  shall  we  say  that  the  constitution  which 
bears  his  name  was  really  his  own,  or  that  it  was  the  work  of  the 
time  ?  This  reformation,  which  still  lasted  as  long  as  Roman 
liberty  endured,  must  have  sprung,  not  from  the  mind  of  one 
man,  but  from  social  and  public  needs.     The  patricians,  or  original 


CAELES    VIBENNA    AND    MASTARNA. 


tables  of  bronze  found  at  Lyons  in  1524  by  a  peasant  who  was  trenching  his  vineyard.  [It  is 
now  to  be  found  appended  to  most  good  editions  of  Tacitus'  Annals. —  Eil.~\ 

1  In  1857,  in  the  same  funeral  chamber  at  Vulci  in  which  Achilles  was  represented 
sacrificing  some  Trojan  captives  (see  p.  68).  The  lucumo  who  had  been  laid  there  had  with- 
out doubt  some  similar  brother-in-arms ;  for  the  two  pictures  express  the  same  idea,  —  the  devo- 
tion of  a  warrior  towards  the  friend  who  followed  him  in  battle :  Achilles  avenges  Patrodus, 
and  Mastarna  delivers  Caeles.  These  fellowships  in  war  must  be  an  Etruscan  custom.  (Cf. 
Noel  des  Vergers,  Revue  arche'oL,  1863,  p.  462.)  [They  were,  as  we  know,  an  old  Greek 
custom,  especially  in  Sparta  and  among  the  Abantes  of  Euboea.  —  Ed."] 

-  Livy,  i.  42.  [This  does  not  agree  with  the  researches  of  V.  Gardthausen  {Mastarna, 
p.  44),  who  shows  that  his  rule  was  a  military  revolt  against  Etruria  by  an  Etrurian  leader  of 
the  Latins.  —  Ed.'\ 


CHANGES   UNDER  THE   THREE  LAST  KINGS.  241 

people  who  at  first  alone  formed  the  army,  must  have  been  con- 
strained, for  safety's  sake,  to  call  in  the  plebeians  gradually  to  serve 
with  them  in  the  legions.  Servius  doubtless  did  nothing  but 
regulate  the  new  state  of  things  which  insensibly  sprang  up ;  he 
does  not  the  less  merit  that  his  name  should  remain  attached  to 
this  great  institution. 

We  will  speak,  tnen,  of  this  prince  as  the  ancients  spoke 
of  him,  conceding  to  him,  with  the  preceding  reservation,  the 
honor  of  having  been  the  legislator  of  royal  and  republican 
Rome. 

We  know  that  the  plebeians  had  neither  the  right  of  voting 
(jus  suffrafjii),  nor  the  right  of  intermarriage  or  exchange  {jus 
connuhii  et  commercii)  with  the  patrician  families,  but  that  they 
enjoyed  personal  liberty.  Since  Romulus,  their  number  had 
constantly  increased ;  ^  for  his  successox's  had  remained  faithful  to 
the  policy  of  drawing  the  vanquislied  to  Rome,  to  augment  its 
military  population.  Until  Servius,  the  plebeians  remained  with- 
out direction  and  without  unity.  These  men  of  different  origins 
might,  however,  combine,  and  some  day  become  dangerous.  The 
prince,  himself  of  foreign  birth,  who  feared  the  enmity  of  the  patri- 
cians, understood  what  help  this  numerous  and  oppressed  people 
would  be  to  him.  He  took  away  from  the  patricians  a  part  of 
the  land  that  they  had  usurped  from  the  public  domain,  and  dis- 
tributed to  each  chief  of  a  pleljeian  family  seve^i  jugera  (4|  acres) 
with  full  Roman  rights ;  and  he  forced  the  aristocracy,  already 
shaken  by  the  innovations  of  Tarquin,  to  receive  plebeians  as  mem- 
bers of  the  same  city. 

He  used  two  means  to  attain  this  end :  the  tribes  and  the 
centuries,  that  is  to  say,  the  administrative  and  military  organi- 
zation of  the  state.  He  divided  the  Roman  territory^  into  26 
regions,  and  the  town  into  4  quarters ;  in  all,  30  tribes.  This 
entirely  geographical  division  was  also  religious,  for  he  insti- 
tuted festivals  for  each  district,  —  the  Coynpitalia  for  the  plebs  of 
the    city   tribes,    the   Paganalia   for    the    country    tribes.      It    was 

1  Romulus  was  said  to  have  established  at  Rome  the  inhabitants  of  Caenina,  Antemnac, 
Crustumerium  (Dionys.,  ii.  35);  Tullus,  the  Albans  (Livy,  i.  29);  Ancus,  the  Latins  of 
Politorium,  Ficana,  Tellenae,  Medullia,  etc.  (Livy.  i.  33.) 

2  Livy,  i.  43. 

VOL.  I.  16 


242     •  KOME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

administrative,  for  each  district  had  its  judges  for  civil  matters/  its 
tribune  {curator  tribus)  to  keep  account  of  the  fortunes,  and  to 
assess  the  taxes ;  and  lastly,  it  was  military,  for  these  tribunes  also 
regulated  the  military  service  of  their  tribesmen,  and  m  case  of 
sudden  invasion  collected  them  in  a  fort  built  in  the  centre  of  the 
canton.^  The  state  was  composed,  then,  of  30  communes  (parishes), 
having  their  chiefs,  their  judges,  their  particular  gods,  but  no 
political  rights,  these  rights  being  only  exercised  in  the  capital. 
Without  touching  the  privileges  of  the  patricians,  Servius  secured 
to  the  plebeians  that  municipal  organization  which  must  precede, 
and  which  introduces,  political  liberty.  As  the  patricians  gave  their 
name  to  all  the  tribes  except  one,  we  have  the  right  to  conclude 
that  they  preserved  their  influence  in  the  cantons  where  their 
estates  were,  and  that  they  probably  filled  all  the  offices  of  judges 
and  municipal  tribunes.  Biit  for  the  first  time  they  found 
themselves  confounded  with  the  plebeians  in  a  territorial  division 
in  which  birth  and  traditions  were  omitted.  That  alone  was 
enough  to  cause  a  revolution.  A  time  will  come  when  these 
tribes  desire  and  ol^tain  political  rights.  That  will  be  the  victory 
of  numbers ;    the  centuries  secured  that  of  wealth. 

Servius  had  made  the  census,  or  numbering,  which  was  for 
the  future  to  be  renewed  every  five  years  {lustrum).  Each  citizen 
came  to  declare  under  oath  his  name,  his  age,  his  family,  the 
number  of  his  slaves,  and  the  value  of  his  possessions.^  A  false 
declaration  would  have  led  to  the  loss  of  property,  liberty,  and 
even  of  life.*  Knowing  thus  all  men's  fortunes,  he  divided  citizens, 
in  proportion  to  their  property,  into  five  classes,  and  each  class 
into  a  different  number  of  centuries.  Dionysius  speaks  of  six 
classes,  and  assigns  to  the  first  98  centuries,  whilst  the  five  others 
together  had  only  95.  In  each  class  there  were  the  jimiores,  from 
17  to  45   years   of   age,  who    composed   the    active  army,  and   the 

'  'iSimrnf  Sixaoras.     (Dionys.,  iv.  25.)     These  judges  doubtless  formed  the  tribunal  of  the 
centumvirs,  as  the  curators  of  the  tribes  formed  the  college  of  the  tribunes  of  the  treasury. 
^  Varro,  de  Ling.  Lat.  vi.  36. 

*  The  census  gave  (Livy,  i.  44)  80,000  citizens  fit  to  bear  arras,  or,  according  to  Dionysius 
(iv.   22),   8.'),300  :    a>s  iv  toX^  rifiT^riKols  (pep^rai  ypa\i^a(Tiv. 

*  Some  critics  think  that  the  valuation  of  cattle,  slaves,  and  ready  money  was  not  required 
for  the  cen^ux  until  after  the  censorship  of  Appius,  in  312.  The  ancient  declaration  would  in 
that  case  have  been  more  favorable  to  the  aristocracy,  since,  for  the  division  into  classes, 
account  would  only  have  been  taken  of  landed  property. 


CHANGES   UNDER  THE  THREE  LAST  KINGS.  243 

seniores,  from  46  to  60,  who  formed  tlie  reserve.  The  first  class 
thus  contained  40  centuries  of  seniores,  40  of  juniores,  and,  besides, 
18  centuries  of  knights;  that  is  to  say,  the  6  equestrian  centuries 
of  Tarquin  {sex  suffragia),  and  12  new  ones,  formed  by  Servius  of 
the  richest  and  most  influential  plebeians.  The  state  gave  to  eacli 
of  these  1,800  knights  a  horse,  and  allowed  for  his  maintenance  an 
annual  stipend  {aes  Jiordearium),  which  the  orphans  and  unmarried 
women  paid.'  To  the  second  class  were  attached  two  centuries  of  ■ 
workmen  {fahri),  and  to  the  fourth  two  of  musicians  {tubicincs)? 
The  poor,  capite  censi,  formed  the  sixth  class,  and  a  single  century, 
which  did  not  serve  in  the  legions.^ 

The  total  of  the  army  was  170  centuries  of  foot-soldiers,  18  of 
horse-soldiers,  4  of  musicians  and  workmen.* 

Cicero,  in  the  much-discussed  passage  in  the  second  book  of  the 
Bejmhlic,  only  speaks  of  five  classes,  foi-med  of  assldui  {assesdare, 
tax-payers  ^).  To  the  first  he  assigns  89  centuries ;  to  the  four 
others,  104  :  in  all,  193,  as  in  the  calculation  of  Dionysius,  and 
one  less  than  in  that  of  Livy.  The  proletariate,  whose  census  did 
not  amount  to  12,-500  asses,  accensi  and  velati,^  followed  the  legions 
unarmed,  to  replace  the  dead,  to  skirmish,  or  to  do  orderly  service. 
The  poorest,  cajnte  censi,  who  were  only  counted  on  the  register  of 

'  This  custom  existed  at  Corinth.  (Cic,  de  Rep.  ii.  20.)  Orba  signified  Ijoth  widow  and 
unmarried  woman. 

-  Dionysius  (iv.  16-19)  gives  the  census  of  the  first  class  at  100  minae  (about  £380).  Pliny 
(xxxiii.  3)  assigns  to  it  110,000  asses;  Aulus  Gellius  (vii.  13),  iL'o.OnO  ;  Festus,  120,000  ;  Livy 
(i.  43),  100,000.  These  figures  are  of  a  date  posterior  to  the  sixth  century  of  Rome.  From 
the  time  of  Servius,  the  aes  grave,  or  the  as  libral,  was  a  pound  weight  of  bronze,  and  there  was 
then  in  Rome  no  one  whose  goods  would  represent  100,000  pounds  of  bronze,  whether  the  value 
of  1,000  oxen,  or  of  100  war-horses,  or  10,000  sheep.  (Festus,  s.  v.  Peculatus.)  The  basis  of 
the  census  was  doubtless  thajugerum  (2  roods,  19  poles),  or  what  a  pair  of  oxen  could  plough  in 
a  day.  The  jiigenim  was  estimated  later  at  5,000  asses,  which  supposes  iO  Jiigera  for  the  first 
class,  15,  10,  5,  and  2  or  2 J  for  the  others.  As  for  the  as  libral  of  12  ounces,  it  was  successively 
reduced,  about  2G8  b.  c,  to  4  ounces ;  about  241,  to  2  ;  in  21 7,  by  the  Flaminian  law,  to  1 ;  in 
89,  by  the  law  Plautia  Papiria,  to  J. 

'  In  grave  danger  they  were  armed  at  the  expense  of  the  State : 
Proltitariiis  publicitus  scutisque  feroque 

Oriiatur  fcrro.  (Ennics,  in  Aldus  Gellius,  xvi.  10.) 

Cf.  Fest.,  s.  v.  Accensi. 

*  It  is  imiiossible  to  admit  that  the  centuries  of  workmen  and  musicians,  added  to  the  first 
classes,  voted  with  them.  But  the  constitution  of  Servius  being  at  first  a  military  organization, 
there  is  nothing  astonishing  in  the  presence  of  workmen  in  the  train  of  the  Implites. 

^  In  the  mancipatio  there  were  witnesses  representing  the  five  classes  of  the  Roman 
people. 

*  Minimae  Jiduciae.     (Livy,  viii.  8.) 


244 


EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


the  census  by  the  head,  like  slaves  and  cattle,  did  not  serve. 
Marius  was  the  first  who  called  them  to  the  standards  ;  and 
from  that  day  the  army  lost  its  national  character. 


LIST  OF  LIVY.i 

Centuries  of  Knights 18 

First  Class.  — 100,000  Asses. 

Centuries  of  Seniors 40 

Centuries  of  Juniors 40 

Centuries  of  Workmen 2 

Second  Class.  —  75,000  Asses. 

Centuries  of  Seniors 10 

Centuries  of  Juniors 10 

Third  Class.  —  50,000  Asses. 

Centuries  of  Seniors 10 

Centuries  of  Juniors 10 

Fourth  Class.  —  25,000  Asses. 

Centuries  of  Seniors 10 

Centuries  of  Juniors 10 

Fifth  Class.  — 11,000  Asses. 

Centuries  of  Seniors 15 

Centuries  of  Juniors 15 

Centuries  of  Coniicines  and  Tubicines    .  3 

Centuries  of  Acccnsi 

Centuries  of  Cajiite  Censi 1 

Tot.al 194 


LIST  OF  DIONYSIUS. 

Centuries  of  Knights 18 

First  Class.  — 100  Minae. 

Centuries  of  Seniors 40 

Centuries  of  Juuiors 40 

Second  Class. —  75  Minae. 

Centuries  of  Seniors 10 

Centuries  of  Juniors 10 

Centuries  of  Workmen 2 

Third  Class.  —  50  Minae. 

Centuries  of  Seniors 10 

Centuries  of  Juniors 10 

Fourth  Class.  —  25  Minae. 

Centuries  of  Seniors 10 

Centuries  of  Juniors 10 

Centuries  of  Cornicines  and  Tubicines    .  2 

Fifth  Class.  —  12J  Minae. 

Centuries  of  Seniors 15 

Centuries  of  Juniors 15 

Sixth  Class. 
Centuries  of  Capitc  Censi 1 

Total 193 


The  uncertainty  of  the  number  of  the  centuries  and  of  the 
basis  on  which  the  assessment  was  made,  does  not  prevent  us  from 
appreciating  the  political  importance  of  this  military  reform.  It  is 
no  longer  birth  which  divides  the  citizens  into  patricians  and 
plebeians  ;  it  is  by  fortune  that  are  now  regulated  both  their  distri- 
l)ution  into  classes,  their  place  in  the  legions,  the  nature  of  their 
arms,  which  they  must  procure  for  themselves,  and  the  quota  of 
the  tax  which  each  of   them    must    pay.     All    the    centuries   must 

>  The  te.xt  of  Cicero  (de  Rep.,  ii.  22),  unfortunately  mutilated  in  this  place,  as  in  so  many 
others  of  the  Republic,  does  not  help  us  to  make  Livy's  numbers  agree  with  those  of  Dionysius. 


CHANGES    UNDER   THE   THREE    LAST   KINGS.  245 

contribute  to  the  treasury  according  to  their  census,  and  later  on 
they  exercise,  in  the  Field  of  Mars,  beyond  the  patrician  town,  the 
same  political  rights.  But  the  first  class  reckons  98  centuries, 
although  it  is  much  the  least  numerous,  since  it  only  contains  the 
wealthy ;  it  furnishes,  then,  more  than  half  the  tax,  and  its 
legionaries,  by  reason  of  their  small  number,  are  more  often  called 
into  service.  It  is  also  by  centuries  that,  after  510  b.  c,  votes  are 
taken  to  decide  on  peace  or  war,  to  appoint  to  public  offices  and 
make  the  laws.  The  rich,  divided  in  98  centuries,  have  98  voices 
out  of  193,  or  the  majority,  —  that  is  to  say,  a  decisive  influence 
in  the  government.  Their  unanimity,  secured  beforehand  on  every 
proposition  affecting  their  interests,  must  render  the  rights  of  the 
other  classes  illusory.  Sometimes,  in  case  of  disagreement  between 
the  centuries  of  the  first  class,  those  of  the  second  may  be  called 
upon  to  vote ;  very  rarely  those  of  the  third ;  never  those  of  the 
last ;  although  each  of  them  contains  perhaps  more  citizens  than 
the  three  first  together.  "  Servius,"  said  Cicero,  "  did  not  desire 
to  give  power  to  mere  number ;  it  was  by  the  votes  of  the  rich, 
not  by  those  of  the  people,  that  all  was  decided."  ^  He  might  have 
added  that  the  preponderance  did  not  belong  to  wealth  alone, 
it  was  given  also  to  wisdom  and  experience ;  since  the  seniors  or 
citizens  above  45  years  of  age  —  only  half  as  numerous  as  the 
juniors,  from  17  to  45  years  old  —  possessed  as  many  votes.^  Finally 
each  had  the  duty  which  he  could  fulfil,  and  rights  in  the  state 
were  in  proportion  to  duties. 

In  the  new  laws  rank  was  as  clearly  marked  as  in  the  old 
constitution ;  but  this  inequality  was  effaced  in  the  eyes'  of  the 
poor  by  the  honor  of  being  counted  among  the  number  of  the 
citizens  and  by  the  material  advances  made  in  their  condition.  If 
the  rich  kept  political  power,  on  them  also  weighed  the  consequent 
responsibilities :  in  the  city  the  heaviest  share  of  the  tax ;  in  the 
army  the  costliest  equipment  and  the  most  frequent  and  dangerous 
service.  But,  at  this  time  there  was  at  Rome  little  wealth  except 
landed   property.     Accordingly,    as    almost   all   the   Ager   Romanus 

'  Dionys.  (iv.  20)  also  says :  Trdo-i/s-  ttjs  iroKirelas  Kvptoi  (oi  jrXoijo-tot).  Livy,  i.  43  :  vh 
omnis  prnes  primores  ciinatis.     Cf.    Dionys.,   x.  1 7. 

'  Tbis  preponderance  of  age  was  found  again  in  the  Senate,  where  the  young  only  spoke 
after  the  old. 


246  EOME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

and  the  greatest  part  of  conquered  lands  were  in  the  hands  of  the 
patricians,  they  remained,  as  before,  the  masters  of  the  state.  These 
new  laws,  which  recognized  the  plebeians  as  free  citizens  of  Rome, 
and  which,  as  a  natural  consequence,  must  some  day  call  them  to 
vote  on  public  affairs,  did  not,  therefore,  in  reality  change  the 
existing  condition  of  the  two  orders.  An  immense  step,  however, 
was  gained  ;  in  placing  the  aristocracy  of  wealth,  —  a  variable  power, 
accessible  to  all,  —  by  the  side  of  the  aristocracy  of  birth,  —  an 
unalterable  power,  —  these  laws  were  preparing  for  the  revolutions 
which  established  in  rejxiblican  Rome  union  and  invinciljle  strength. 

This  constitution  struck  another  blow  at  the  aristocracy  by 
indirectly  attacking  clientship.  It  did  not  abolish  patronage,  which 
gave  to  the  nobles  material  strength,  without  which  privileges  cannot 
long  be  defended,  but  it  assured  a  place  in  the  state  to  the  clients 
who  until  then  had  lived  vender  the  protection  of  the  Quirites.  It 
separated  them  from  their  patrons  on  the  day  of  the  comitia,  to 
mix  them,  according  to  their  fortune,  with  the  rich  or  the  poor ;  it 
opened  the  road  to  the  Forum  for  those  who  had  never  followed 
any  but  that  to  the  patrician  Atrium.  Another  law  of  Servius 
authorized  the  freedmen  to  return  to  their  country,  or,  if  they 
remained  at  Rome,  to  be  inscribed  in  the  city  tribes.  This  law 
would  have  equally  recognized  in  plebeians  the  right  of  patronage, 
so  that  the  rich  plebeian  could  from  that  time  show  himself  in  the 
town,  surrounded  like  a  Fabius,  by  a  noisy  and  devoted  band.  But 
clientship  becomes  weaker  by  diffusion ;  and  in  the  course  of 
centuries,  Rome,  the  seat  of  the  empire,  is  peopled,  to  the  ruin 
of   its    institutions,  with   freed  slaves. 

This  constitution,  which  was  to  unite  two  people  hitherto 
separated,  had  only  been  conceived  with  a  view  to  the  army  ;  and 
the  centuries  were  called  the  city  army,  urhanus  exercitus}  The 
seniores  guarded  the  town  whilst  the  juniores,  or  the  active  army, 
went  to  meet  the  enemy.  On  the  field  of  battle  the  legion  drew 
up  in  serried  lines  which  recalled  the  Macedonian  phalanx."     In  front 

1  The  patricians  could  accept  this  reform  under  the  title  of  a  military  regulation  ;  they 
were  too  strong  to  allow  it  to  be  imposed  as  a  political  constitution.  Nothing  short  of  a 
revolution  which  rendered  the  help  of  the  |)lebeians  necessary  to  them,  could  wring  this 
concession  from  them  as  payment.     (Livy.  i.  47.) 

'■^  Livy,  viii.  8.  [It  may  originally  have  been  intended  to  reward  Mastarna's  mercenaries. 
—  Ed.] 


CHANGES   UNDER  THE  THREE   LAST   KINGS. 


247 


of  the  enemy,  and  exposed  to  the  first  onset,  were  the  legionaries  of 
the  first  class,  fully  clad  in  defensive  armor ;  behind  them,  and  in  a 
degree  shielded  by  them,  were  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  classes 
(following  Livy's  list),  while  those  of  the  fifth  class  served  as  skirmish- 
ers ;  and  300  horsemen  formed  the  cavalry  attached  to  each  legion. 


DIANA   WITH    THE    HIM). 


We  have  seen  that  the  friend  of  the  Roman  plebeians  was  also 
favorable  to  the  Latin  cities,  and  that  he  invited  them  to  offer  common 
sacrifices  to  Diana  upon  the  Aventine.^  The  temple  built  by  the  popu- 
lar king  upon  this  hill,  regarded  as  unlucky  in  memory  of  the  omens 
seen  there  by  Remus,  was  adopted  by  the  slaves  as  their  sanctuary ; 


*  Dionysius  (iv.  26)  says  that  he  saw  the  decree  containing  the  clauses  of  the  alliance 
ent»raved  on  a  bronze  column  in  ancient  Greek  cliaracters. 


248 


ROME  UNDER  THE  KINGS. 


AES    SIGNATUM.       (ACTUAL    SIZE.) 


and  they  offered  sacrifices  there,i  but  the  patricians  do  not  seem  to  have 


'  Fest.,  s.  V.  Scrvorum  (lies. 


CHANGES  UNDER  THE  THREE  LAST  KINGS.  249 

admitted  this  goddess  into  the  national  worship,  and  no  public 
festival  was  marked  with  her  name  in  the  book  of  the  pontiffs. 
Of  course  no  vestige  of  this  temj^le  or  of  the  image  which  it  con- 
tained, remains.  When  the  Romans  were  Hellenized,  they  con- 
founded their  Diana,  a  fierce  and  eternal  virgin,  with  the  Greelc 
Artemis,  and  gave  her  the  attributes  of  the  latter ;  their  palaces 
and  villas  have  preserved  for  us  some  statues  of  this  goddess,  which 
are  among  the  most  beautiful  that  Greek  art  ever  produced. 

Dionysius^  assures  us  that  besides  his  constitution  Servius  jDro- 
mulgated  more  than  fifty  laws  on  contracts,  crimes,  enfranchisement, 
the  forms  of  acquiring  property,  weights  and  measures,  coinage, 
which  he  was  the  first  to  mark  with  an  impression,  — j^''"''-''^'*^^  signa- 
vit  aes,  etc.^  If  Servius  is  indeed  the  author  of  this  last  novelty, 
which  was  not  new  for  the  Greeks  of  Campania  and  of  Southern 
Italy,  it  was  a  great  service  which  he  rendered  his  country,  for 
money  is  to  commerce  what  writing  is  to  thought,  —  a  powerfiil 
means  of  production. 

The  laws  attributed  to  the  great  reformer  of  Rome  seem  to 
have  had  the  same  liberal  character  as  his  constitution,  —  that, 
for  example,  which  Tarquiu  abolished,  and  which  the  people  took 
nearly  two  centuries  to  recover,  ordering  the  property  only  of 
the  debtor,  and  not  his  person,  to  be  responsible  for  his  debt. 
Popular  gratitude  protected  the  memory  of  the  plebeian  King, 
born  in  slaveiy  or  on  foreign  soil ;  and  they  went  so  far  as  to 
beheve  that  he  had  wished  to  lay  down  the  crown  in  order  to 
establish  consular  government. 

Some  years  before,  the  Athenian  Solon  had  divided  -rights  in 
proportion  to  property.  Thus  at  the  same  time  the  two  greatest 
cities    of    the    ancient    world    were    desirous    of     renouncing    the 

*  Dionys.,  iv.  13. 

-  Originally  the  Romans  only  had  as  a  means  of  exchange  the  aes  rude,  bars  of  metal  in 
bronze  or  mere  copper,  without  any  stamped  impression  and  without  any  settled  weight.  The 
buyer  put  into  the  scales  as  many  pieces  as  were  necessary  to  make  the  weight  equivalent  to 
the  price  of  the  goods  bought.  This  was  barter. —  a  means  of  exchange  which  indicates  a  still 
ruder  state  of  society.  The  aes  sif/natum  appears  to  have  been  coined  under  Servius  ;  it  was 
a  flat  jiiefce  of  bronze,  with  the  picture  of  an  ox,  a  sheep,  or  a  pig,  or,  like  that  which  we 
give,  with  the  impression  of  a  tripod.  Later  on,  more  portable  pieces  were  coined  of  circular 
shape,  on  which  the  value  was  marked  by  a  distinguishing  sign ;  we  have  already  given  some 
of  them  on  pages  29,  57,  77.  The  bar  represented  on  page  248,  and  taken  from  the 
Cabinet  de  France,  weighs  1,495  grammes  (3  lbs.  4  ozs.).  At  the  base  is  seen  the  opening 
through  wliich  thev  ran  the  molten  metal. 


250     ■  ROME   UNDER   THE,  KINGS. 

government  of  the  families  consecrated  by  the  gods,  and  of  adopt- 
ing the  principle  which  is  still  applied  in  many  modern  societies, 
—  that  power  depends  upon  wealth.  But  at  Athens  customs  had 
paved  the  way  for  the  reform  of  Solon,  and  it  was  immediately 
applied ;  at  Rome,  that  of  Servius  was  in  advance  of  his  time, 
he  could  not  establish  it ;  but  in  the  next  generation  it  came 
about    of  its  own  accord. 


in.  Taequin  the  Proud  ;  Power  of  Rome  at  this  Epoch. 

It  was,  in  fact,  the  democratic  laws  of  Servius  which  helped 
Tarquin  the  Proud,  posing  to  the  patricians  as  the  defender 
of  their  threatened  i^rivileges,  to  dethrone  his  father-in-law. 
Having  become  king  by  a  murder,  he  destroyed  the  tables  on 
which  were  inscribed  the  results  of  the  census,  abolished  the 
system  of  the  classes,  and  forbade  the  religious  gatherings  of 
the  plebeians ;  ^  then,  supported  by  his  numerous  mercenaries, 
he  obliged  the  people  to  finish  the  Circus,  the  Capitol,  and  the 
great  Cloaca.  But  counting  too  much  on  his  Latin  and  Hernican 
allies,  he  did  not  spare  the  patricians  more  than  the  plebeians, 
and  to  escape  death,  many  senators  went  into  exile.  This  oppres- 
sion was  likely  to  unite  the  two  orders  by  a  common  hatred. 
It  lasted  however,  until  the  outrage  upon  Lucretia  had  given  the 
multitude  one  of  those  exciting  proofs  of  slavery  which,  even 
more  than  bloodshed,  bring  about  revolutions,  because  the  injury 
done  to  the  individual  is  felt  by  all. 

"  If  the  constitution  of  Servius  had  been  maintained,"  says 
Niebuhr,  "  Rome  would  have  attained,  two  hundred  years  sooner, 
and  without  sacrifices,  to  a  happiness  .  .  .  which  she  could 
recover  only  at  the  cost  of  fierce  combats  and  great  sufferings." 
Happily  in  the  history  of  a  nation,  as  in  the  life  of  a  man, 
good  often  results  from  evil.  This  difficult  struggle  trained  the 
youth  of  Rome  and  retarded  its  decline ;  l)ut  "  woe  to  him  from 
whom  the  offence  came,  and  curses  on  those  who  destroyed  ple- 
beian liberty  to  the  utmost  of  their  power  ! " 

'  Dionvs.,  iv.  43. 


wh 


'  *;; 


< 

M 
H 

O 

o 

o 
a 


CHANGES    UNDER   THE    TPIEEE   LAST   KINGS. 


251 


The  Tarquins,  however,  had  extended  their  reputation  far 
and  wide.  Under  her  last  kings  Rome  is  no  longer  the  obscure 
city  whose  territory  extends  a  few  miles  from  her  walls.  The 
treaty  with  Carthage,   concluded   in  509  b.  c,  the  grandeur  of  the 


THE    CAPITOLINE    HILL    (RESTORATION    OF    CANINA).! 


TEMPLE    OF  JUPITER 
CAPITOLINUS. 


city,  the  importance  of  her  edifices,  and  her  150,000  fighting  men  ^ 

(whatever   reduction    we    make  from   tliis    figure),   testify    that    she 

then   formed   one    of   the  most   powerful    states  of 

Italy.     The  Tiber  was   already  bounded  by   quays, 

and    some  of    the  foundations  laid  to  support  the 

Capitol  still  exist.^     This  temple,  which  was  worthy 

of    Rome    at   the    time    of    its    grandeur,   formed 

an  almost  exact  square  of  200  feet  on  each  side.* 

A  double    colonnade  surrounded  it  on  three  sides. 

But   the    peristyle    of   the  south,  which    faced  the 

Palatine,  had  a  triple  row  of  six  columns.     It  stood  on  orie  of  the 

two  summits  of  the    Tarpeian  Hill,  that   on  the  northeast,  at  the 

place  where  now  stands  the  church  of  the  Ara-Coeli ;  the  God  who 

held  the  thunderbolt  has  given  place  to  the   Child  who  holds  the 

cross,  —  il  Bambino.     But  the  church  is  turned  the  opposite  way  from 

'  On  the  position  of  the  temple  of  Jupiter,  which  some  place  on  the  west,  otliers  at  the 
opposite  extremity  of  the  Capitoline  Hill,  see  the  discussion  of  Ampere,  L'Histoire  Romaine  a 
Rome,  vol.  ii.  p.  59,  seqq. 

*  This  is  the  census  of  the  year  496  ;  but  these  figures  are  most  probably  exaggerated. 
The  census  of  509  had  only  given  130,000  men,  and  that  of  491  gave  only  110,000.  (Cf. 
Dionys.,  v.  20,  75  ;  vi.  G5,  96.)  These  numbers,  if  they  were  exact,  would  certainly  imply  a 
population  of  at  least  600,000  souls. 

2  It  may  be  that  those  which  are  still  seen  only  date  from  the  war  with  Samnium. 

*  Vitruvius,  iv.   7. 


252 


EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


the  temple,  which  faced  the  Forum,  and  rose  majestically  above 
it.  Grace,  however,  was  wanting  to  this  majesty.  With  its  short 
columns  and  quadrangular  form,  without  a  corresponding  elevation, 
the  temple  of  Jupiter  had  a  heavy  and  stunted  appearance. 
This  sanctuary  well  suited  a  nation  of  soldiers  which  laid  so 
great  a  burden  upon  the  world. 

Of  all  Ta'-qum's  works,  the  most  important  was  the  Cloaca 
Maxima.     Its   foundations   were    sunk    deep   under   the  earth,    and 

its  numerous  branches 
brought  the  water  and 
mud  from  the  low  dis- 
tricts of  the  city  and 
led  them  into  the 
Tiber.  It  was  only 
when  this  innnense 
work  had  been  finished 
that  the  marshy  plain  ^ 
which  extended  between 
the  Seven  Hills  was 
rendered  healthy  and 
dry.  Such  was  the  height  of  the  triple  vaialt^  of  the  main 
channel,  which  was  built  with  long  stones  of  peperino,  laid  with- 
out cement,  that  Agrippa  entered  it  m  a  boat,  and  Pliny  asserts 
that  a  cart-load  of  hay  could  have  passed  through  it.  Tradition  also 
speaks,  as  in  the  case  of  the  great  constructions  of  the  Egyptian 
kings,  of  the  misery  of  the  people  condemned  to  such  tasks. 

The  rule  of  Rome,  however,  was  then  extensive  enough  for 
the  greatness  of  the  state  to  be  shown  by  the  magnificence  of 
its  buildings.  In  the  treaty  concluded  with  Carthage  in  the  very 
year    of    the    expulsion    of    Tarquin,   which    Polybius^    translated 


CLOACA    MAXIMA. 


^  This  plain  formed  the  quarters  of  the  Velahrum,  the  Suhum,  the  Forum  Komanum,  and 
the  Circus  Maximus.  This  circus,  whicli  was  3^  stadia  in  lenjfth  by  1  in  width,  could  hold 
150,000,  or  according  to  others,  3.S0,000  spectators. 

■•^  The  vaulting  is  formed  by  three  concentric  arches,  and  the  diameter  of  it  is  20  ft.  It  may 
be  remarked  that  the  Greeks  only  began  to  use  the  vaulted  arch  at  the  time  of  Alexander, 
although  M.  Heuzey  saw  many  more  ancient  in  Epirus  and  Acarnania.  [Pausanias  speaks 
as  if  the  ancient  Minyan  treasure-house  at  Orchomenus  had  been  really  arched  with  a  keystone ; 
but  according  to  Schliemann's  researches  l;,e  must  have  been  mistaken.  —  Ed.'] 

3  III.  22.  The  authenticity  of  this  treaty  would,  if  necessary,  be  confirmed  by  the 
account  of  Livy,  which  represents  Tarquin  as  the  recognized  chief  of  the  league  of  forty-seven 


CHANGES    UNDER   THE   THKEE   LAST   KINGS.  253 

from  the  original,  preserved  in  tlic  archives  of  the  aediles  in  the 
Capitol,  all  the  towns  of  the  coast  of  Latium.  Ardea,  Antium, 
Circei,  Terracina,  are  mentioned  as  subjects  of  Rome.  In  the 
interior  of  the  country,  Aricia  obeyed  her  under  the  same  title. 
Sucssa  Pometia  had  been  captiu'ed,  and  Signia  colonized.  Between 
the  Tiber  and  the  Anio,  all  the  low  Sabine  country  belonged  to 
her,  and  the  stories  al)out  Porsenna  prove  that  on  the  north  of  the 
Tiber  her  frontier  extended  so  far  that  ten  of  her  thirty  tribes 
had  their  territory  in  Etruria.  Even  her  navy,  especially  that  of 
her  allies,  was  not  without  importance,  since  we  can  conclude 
from  the  terms  of  the  treaty  that  merchant  vessels,  which  started 
from  the  Tiber  or  the  ports  of  Latium,  traded  as  far  as  Sicily, 
Sardinia,  and  Africa.  It  was  doubtless  the  road  to  Egypt  which 
the  Carthaginians  wished  to  close  against  them,  by  forbidding  to 
Rome  and  her  allies  all  navigation  to  the  east  of  the  Fair  Prom- 
ontory.  The  republican  revolution  cost  her  this  dominion,  which 
it  cost  more  than  a  century  and  a  half  to  recover. 

The  Greeks,  who  represented  Romulus  to  be  a  descendant  of 
Aeneas,  Numa  a  contemporary  of  Pythagoras,  and  the  successor  of 
Ancus  to  be  the  son  of  a  Corinthian,  illustrated  the  history  of  the 
last  Tarquin  by  stories  copied  from  Herodotus.  Thus  Sextus  enters 
into  Gabii  like  Zopyrus  into  Babylon,  and  the  silent  but  singu- 
larly expressive  advice  of  Tarquin  to  his  son  is  that  of  Thrasy- 
bulus  to  Periander.  Servius,  they  said,  had  honored  the  Grecian 
Artemis  b}'  raising  a  temple  to  her  on  the  Aventine ;  Tarquin 
honored  the  Hellenic  Apollo  by  sending  to  Delphi  an  eml^assy, 
which  in  the  legend  only  serves  to  show  the  feigned  -madness  of 
Brutus,  —  an  echo,  perhaps,  of  that  of  Solon.  In  fact  this  King's 
character  has  been  drawn  after  those  of  numerous  tyrants  whom 
Greece  experienced.  Even  his  fall  remains  a  problem.  Was  it 
Lucretia,  who,  by  her  generous  death,  overturned  the  powerful 
monarch  whose  sway  so  many  cities  obeyed,  or  was  it  not  the 
whole  Roman  people  who  revolted  against  a  foreign  master  ? 

It  is  difficult  not  to  consider   the   time   of    the    royalty   of   the 

Latin  towns.  See  Livy,  i.  52;  Dionys.,  ir.  48-49.  [Mommsen,  Rom.  Hixl.  i.  145,  while 
])roving  from  the  Latin  forms  of  Phoenician  names  the  early  date  of  the  direct  intercourse  of 
Rome  and  Carthage,  disputes  the  date  of  this  treaty,  which  he  believes  to  have  been  much 
later.     But  his  opinion  is  much  disputed  by  other  scholars.  —  2?f/.] 


254 


EOME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


Tarquin  as  the  period  of  an  Etruscan  rule,  accepted  or  endured  on 
the  shores  of  the  Tiber,  and  the  Rome  of  Tarquinius  Superbus  as 
the  capital  of  the  most  famous  of  the  lucumonies.  Being,  as  they 
were,  masters  of  Tuscany  and  of  Campania,  they  must  also  have 
been  masters  of  Latium.  Their  influence  at  Rome  is  matter  of 
history  only  as  concerns  the  arts  and  religious  beliefs  which  they 
carried  thither ;  it  was  probably  by  a  conquest  which  Roman  pride 
was  unwilling  to  remember,  that  this  influence  made  itself  felt.^ 
Sufficiently  strong  and  numerous  to  impose  their  authority  and 
some  of  their  customs,  they  had  not  the  power  to  change  the  lan- 
guage, the  civil  institutions,  and  the  population,  which  remained 
Latino-Sabine.^  The  story  of  the  greatness  and  of  the  fall  of  the 
last  of  the  Tarquins,  and  of  the  wars  undertaken  by  the  Etruscans 
to  re-estabhsh  him  on  the  throne,  leads  to  the  idea  that  the  revolu- 
tion of  the  year  510  was  a  national  uprising,  called  out  by  some  act 
of  insolence  like  the  outrage  upon  Lucretia.  The  fortune  of  the 
Rasena  was  everywhere  on  the  wane.  They  had  already  lost  the 
plains  of  the  Po,  and  were  losing,  or  about  to  lose,  those  of  Campa- 
nia. This  reaction  of  the  native  races  reached  Latium  and  the  city 
which  was  its  most  flourishing  capital.  In  the  exile  of  Tarquin, 
therefore,  we  may  see  the  fall  of  the  great  Tiberine  lucumony  and 
the  revival  of  the  old  Roman  people. 

1  [Cf.  the  interesting  arguments  of  Gardthausen  {Mastania,  p.  5,  seq.)  to  show  the 
domination  of  the  Etruscans  about  600  B.  c,  and  the  remains  of  Etruscan  names  among 
the  Latin  towns.  —  EdJ} 


ETRUSCAN   SIDEBOARD. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS. 

I.   Character  of  Ancient  Roman  Society. 

NOTHING  can  be  said  of  science,  art,  or  literature  in  this 
pei'iod.  When  Tarquin  fell,  Greek  literature  had  finished 
half  its  career,  perhaps  the  most  brilliant  part.  The  best  days 
of  at  least  the  higher  kmd  of  poetry  had  passed,  and  the  works 
of  Solon,  Simonides,  and  Anacreon  were  an  early  decadence ;  but 
Pindar,  Aeschylus,  Herodotus,  and  Thucydides  were  born  or  were 
presently  to  appear.  Thus,  on  one  of  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic 
Greece  had  for  centuries  listened  to  her  immortal  singers,  while 
on  the  other  literary  genius  was  yet  asleep.  And  it  must  be  so, 
because,  if  the  Romans  had  a  worship,  they  had  not  a  religion,  in 
the  sense  of  a  mythology.  Instead  of  the  magnificent  development 
of  the  Greek  theodicy  and  of  those  great  [philosophical]  systems 
which  explained  the  world,  we  only  find  at  Rome  dry  rituals. 
Those  living  and  passionate  divinities  which,  around  the  Aegean 
Sea,  shared  human  love  and  hate,  were  replaced  about  the  Apen- 
nines by  sober  gods,  without  adventures,  without  history,  who 
never  cross  the  azure  of  the  sky  to  betake  themselves  to  the 
mountain,  bathed  in  dazzling  light,  where  the  Olympians  of 
Homer   drink   their   nectar. 

Rome  doubtless  had  songs  in  honor  of  gods,  kings,  and  heroes. 
But  these  rude  and  short  songs,  and  careless  expression  of  passions 
and  recollections,  were  far  beneath  the  clearly  defined  form  which 
individual  genius  stamps  upon  its  work.  Formerly  the  value 
of  popular  songs  was  overlooked ;  now  it  is  exaggerated.  For  the 
Romans   especially,  whose   cold   and   severe   character  had   neither 


256  '  ROME    UNDEil   THE   KINGS. 

the  natural  entliusiasm  of  the  Greeks  nor  their  brilliant  and  lively 
imagination,  j^opular  songs  never  could  have  been  as  rich  in 
details  and  color  as  the  school  of  Niebuhr  [or  Macaulay's  lays] 
would  make  us  believe.  The  language,  moreover,  was  too  poor 
to  be  adapted  to  varied  requirements :  the  fragment  which  remains 
to  us  of  a  hymn  of  the  Fratres  Arvales  shows  of  wliat  little  use 
this  rude  instrument  had  hitherto  been. 

Carmen  Arvale. 

Enos,  Lases,  iuvate. 

Neve  lue  rue,  jMarmar,  sins  [?;.  sers]  incurrere  in  pleores. 

Satur  fu,  fere  Mars.  Limen  sali.  Sta.  Berber. 

Semunis  alternei  advocapit  conctos. 

Enos,  IMarmor,  iuvato. 

Triumpe.i 

In  royal  Rome  they  merely  knew  how  to  engrave  laws  and 
treaties  on  wood  or  bronze ;  and  the  only  works  which  are  men- 
tioned for  that  time  are  the  collection  of  laws  which  Papirius 
is  believed  to  have  made  after  the  expulsion  of  Tarquin  the  Proud 
(jus  Pajjirianum),  and  of  the  Commentaries  of  King  Servius, 
said  to  have  contained  his  constitution.^  It  is  characteristic 
that  Latin   was  compelled    to   borrow    from    the    Greek   the    words 


![...."  The  hymn,  though  it  has  suffered  in  transliteration,  is  a  good  specimen 
of   early  Roman  worship,  the  rubrical,  directions  to  the  brethren    being   inseparably  united 

with  invocation  to  the  Lares  and  Mars The  most  ]irobable  rendering  is  as  follows: 

'  Help  us,  O  Lares  1  and  thou,  Marmar,  suffer  not  jjlague  and  ruin  to  attack  our  folk.  Be 
satiate,  O  fierce  Mars  !  Leap  over  the  threshold.  Halt.  Now  beat  the  ground.  Call  in 
alternate  strain  upon  all  the  heroes.  Help  us,  Marmor !  Bound  high  in  solemn  measure.' 
Each  line  was  repeated  thrice,  the  last  word  five  times.  As  regards  the  separate  words, 
gno.i  —  which  should,  perhaps,  be  written  e  nos  —  contains  the  interjectional  e,  which  else- 
where coalesces  with  vocatives.  Lase.t  is  the  older  form  of  Lares.  Lue  rue  ==:  litem  ruem : 
the  last  an  old  word  for  ru'mam,  with  the  case-ending  lost,  as  frequently,  and  the  copula 
omitted,  as  in  Patres  Conscriptl,  etc.  Marmar,  Marmor,  or  Mamor,  is  the  reduplicated 
form  of  Mars  seen  in  the  Sabine  Mamers.  Sins  is  for  sines,  as  advocapit  for  adoocabitis. 
Pleores  is  an  ancient  form  of  piures,  answering  to  the  Greek  TrXeioras  in  form,  and  to  roiis 
noWois,  "  the  mass  of  the  people,"  in  meaning.  Fu  is  a  shortened  imperative.  Berber 
is  for  verbere,  imperative  of  the  old  verb  verbero,  is,  as  triumpe  from  triumpere  =  (riumphare. 

Semunes   from    Semo    (se-lwmo,    apart   from   man),    an    inferior   deity Much   of   this 

interpretation  is  conjectural,  and  other  views  have  been  advanced  with  regard  to  nearly 
every  word;  but  the  above  given  is  the  most  probable."  —  Cruttwell  :  History  of  Roman 
Literature,  pp.  14,  15.] 

2  Pomponius,  Dii/.  i.  2,  2,  §  2  ;  Dionysius,  iii.  36 ;  Cicero,  pro  Rabir,  5  ;  Livy,  i.  31, 
n2,  60. 


MAJSTNERS  AND  CUSTOMS. 


257 


for  poet  and  poetry ;  but  it  possessed  those  whicli  have  to  do 
with  rustic  life  or  with  hardy  and  warlike  manners.  The  common 
treasury  was  at  first  a  basket  of  wicker-work  {fiscus) ;  their 
contract,  a  straw  broken  by  the  two  contractors  [stipula) ;  their 
money,  a  herd  (pecus) ;  a  fine,  as  much  milk  as  a  cow  gives 
(mulcta,  from  miihjeo,  to  milk) ;  war  was  a  duel  {helium,  from 
duellum) ;  victory,  the  action  of  liinding  the  conquered  {vincio, 
to  bind) ;  and  an  enemy,  the  victim  reserved  for  sacrifice " 
iyictima)  and  hostia. 

The  arts  were  no  lietter  cultivated.  If  the  walls  of  Rome 
and  the  foundations  of  the  Palatine  were  formed  of  squared 
blocks  which  marked  an  advance  on  the  polygonal  structure  of 
the  preceding  age,  huts  covered  the  slopes  about  the  seven 
hills,  and  we  can  reconstruct  their  clumsy  form  when  we  see 
the    cinerary   urns   recently   fomid   under   the    lava    of    the    Alban 


CINERARY   URNS,'   REPRODUCING    THE    FORM    OP    THE    COTTAGES    CONSTRUCTED    BY    THE 
ANCIENT    INHABITANTS    OF    LATIUM. 


Mount.  Montesquieu  well  observes :  "  We  must  not  form  the  idea 
of  the  city  of  Rome  at  its  beginnmg  from  the  towns  of  the 
present  da^-,  unless  it  be  those  of  the  Crimea,  made  to  contam 
plunder,  cattle,  and  the  fruits  of  the  soil."  The  town  had  not 
even  streets,  unless  we  give  this  name  to  the  continuation 
of  the  roads  which  terminated  therem.  The  houses  were  very 
small  or   placed   irregularly.      Until   the   war   with   Pyrrhus   these 

1  Cinerary  urns  in  terra-cotta,  containing  calcined  bones,  recently  found  under  the 
deepest  lava  of  the  Alban  i\Iount,  consequently  of  great  antiquity,  and  reproducing  the  form 
of  the  cottages-  constructed  by  the  most  ancient  inhabitants  of  Latium.  (Revue  arche'oloq.. 
May,  1876,  p.  338.) 


VUL.    I. 


17 


258     ■  EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

houses  were  only  covered  with  planks,^  which  would  give  credence 
to  the  tradition  that  after  the  burning  of  Rome  by  the  Gauls 
one  year  sufficed  for  its  reconstruction.^ 

Athens  converted  her  feasts  into  great  national  solemnities, 
during  which  the  highest  pleasures  of  the  mind  were  found 
associated  with  the  most  imposing  shows  of  religious  processions, 
of  the  most  perfect  art  and  of  the  fairest  nature.  Those  of 
Rome  were  the  games  of  rude  shepherds,  or  shouts  of  the 
delighted  crowd,  when  the  soldiers  entered  the  city  with  some 
captives,  sheaves  of  wheat,  and  the  cattle  taken  from  the  enemy,  — 
a  rustic  festival,  which  time  and  the  fortune  of  Rome  will  change 
into  that  triumphal  ceremony  which  is  the  continual  ambition  of 
her  generals  and  one  of  the  causes  of  her  greatness. 


ETRUSCAN   CUPS,    AFTER    MICALl'S    MONUMENTS    IN^DITS. 

To  the  north  and  south  of  the  Tiber,  however,  among  the 
Etruscans,  Rutulians,  and  Volscians,  the  arts  had  already  begun  to 
make  way.  Pliny  saw  at  Caere  and  Ardea  some  paintings  still 
preserving  all  the  freshness  of  their  colors,  which  he  regarded  as 
anterior  in  date  to  Rome.  The  numerous  objects  found  in  the  second 
of  these  towns  prove  that  it  had  a  regular  school  of  artists. 
Praeneste  was  also  a  city  fond  of  works  of  art ;   every  day  some 

1  Pliny,  Hisl.  Nat.  xvi.  15.  *  Plut.,  Cam.  32. 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS. 


259 


eight 
our 


are   discovered   in   its   ruins.      A  tomb  which  is  believed  to  have 

belonged    to     the    gens 

Sylvia,      from      which 

Romulus    was    said    to 

be    descended,   has   just 

yielded    a    treasure 

which      dates      perhaps 

from     seven     or 

centuries      before 

era. 

The  Romans,  who 
adopted  everything  from 
their  neighbors,  adopted 
from  them  even  the 
statues  of  their  divini- 
ties ;  but  they  them- 
selves made  none.  For 
a  long  time  they  rep- 
resented the  gods  by  a 
naked  sword,  a  lance, 
or  an  unhewn  stone. 
For  them,  the  place 
where  a  thunderbolt 
had  fallen  became  a  temple,  pxiteaJ  ;'^  the  tree  struck  by  lightning 
a  sacred  object ;  and  from  a  handful 
of  baked  earth  they  made  their  Lares 
and  Penates,  whom  they  thought  they 

saw  dancing  in  the  flame  on  the  hearth,     ^o  sT  •^J  ^^^^SifSS 

Strange  fortune  of  religious  conceptions !  ,  , , 

°  O  1  PUTEAL    OF    LIBO    (SILVER    COIN).' 

Art,  one  of  the  elements  of  the  human 

trinity,*   was   born    of   the    religions    of    India,  Egj^t,   and  Greece, 


Y?;<if/- 


GROUP  IN  BRONZE  RECENTLY  FOUXD  AT  PALESTRINA 

(PRAENESTE).l 


1  Of  course  this  group,  like  tlie  Mercury  on  page  196,  is  of  a  relatively  modern  period. 
We  shall  see  later  on  a  very  curious  cup,  also  found  at  Praeneste. 

2  Puteal  means  the  brink  of  a  well.  It  was  a  stone  enclosure  surrounding  a  well  or 
consecrated  [)lace.  The  puteal  of  Libo  is  often  represented  on  the  medals  of  the  r/cnx  Scribonia  ; 
it  protected,  according  to  some,  a  place  in  the  Forum  which  had  been  struck  by  a  thunderbolt ; 
according  to  others,  the  place  where  Navius  had  performed  his  miracle.  Scribonius  Libo 
having  repaired  it,  gave  his  name  to  it. 

'  See  Cohen,  Mrd.  Consul  Aemilia,  No.  10. 
*  The  Good,  the  Beautiful,  and  the  True. 


260 


EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


where  it  grew  and  developed ;  but  it  could  not  jDroceed  from  the 
temjile  of  Jehovah,  and  on  the  soil  of  ancient  Rome  it  always 
remained  a  foreign  importation.^  Even  after  the  Tarquins,  the 
images  of  the  gods,  the  work  of  Etruscan  artists,  were  still  made 
only  in  wood  or  clay,  like  that  of  Jupiter  in  the  Capitol,  and 
like  the  quadriga  placed  on  the  top  of  the  temple.  Etruria 
also  furnished  the  architects  ^  who  built  the  Roma  quadrata  of  the 
Palatine  and  constructed  the  first  temples ;  she  provided  even 
the  flute-players  necessary  for  the  performance  of  certain  rites. 


II.   Private  ]\Iannees. 

All   the    activity  of   the  Roman  tended  to  a  practical  end,  — 
public  affairs,  agriculture,  and  domestic  cares.     Two  words  signified 


THE    PLOUGHMAN.* 


for  him  all  good  qualities,  all  virtues,*  —  virtus  et  pictas  ;  that  is  to 
say,  courage,  force,  an  immovable  firmness,  patience  in  work,  and 
respect  for  the  gods,  his  ancestors,  his  fatherland,  and  his  family, 
for    the    established    laws    and    discipline.     Cicero   well    remarks,^ 


'  This  sterility  of  Judaea  and  Rome  is,  of  course,  only  shown  in  plastic  arts. 

^  Fabris  undique  ex  Etruria  accitis.    (Livy,  i.  56  ;  of.  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  xxxv.  12.) 

'  After  an  engraved  stone  in  the  collection  of  Florence. 

*  Appellala  est  ex  vivo  virtus.  (Cic,  Tusc.  ii.  18.)  [The  peculiar  Roman  (jravilas  should 
have  been  added.  —  Ed."] 

^  Tusc.  i.  1.  Properly  speaking,  the  originality  of  the  Greeks  exists  especially  in 
political  constitutions ;  that  of  Rome  in  civil  laws.      Cicero  says  Qle  Orat.  i.  44),  Incredible 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS. 


261 


without  unduly  flattering  the  national  pride :  "  In  sciences  and 
letters,  the  Greeks  surpass  us ;  but  there  is  more  order  and 
dignity  in  our  customs  and  conduct.  Where  else  is  there  to  be 
found  that  severity  of  manners,  that  firmness,  that  greatness  of 
soul,  that  uprightness,  that  good  faith,  and  all  the  virtues  of  our 
fathers  ?  " 

Their  domestic  life,  in  fact,  was  simple  and  austere :  no 
luxurj',  no  idleness ;  the  master  ploughs  with  his  slaves,  the 
mistress  spurs  in  the  midst  of  her  women.^  Royalty,  even  wealth, 
does  not  exempt  from  labor ;  like 
Bertha  the  Spinner,  Queen  Tanaquil^ 
and  Lucretia  set  the  example  to  the 
Roman  matrons.  "  When  our  fathers," 
says  Cato,  "  desired  to  praise  a  man 
of  property,  they  called  him  a  good 
ploughman  and  a  good  farmer ;  this  was 
the  highest  of  eulogimns  ^  [and  on 
many  epitaphs  noble  women  were  praised 
for  chastity  and  diligent  spinning]. 
Then  men  lived  on  their  lands,  in  the 
rustic  tribes,  which  were  the  most 
honorable  of  all,  and  they  only  came 
to  Rome  on  market  days  ^  or  assembly 
days.  In  the  villa  —  a  miserable  cabin  made  of  mud,  rafters,  and 
branches  —  not  a  day,  not  a  moment,  was  lost.  If  bad  weather 
prevented  work  in  the  fields,  there  was  plenty  to  do  at  home  in 
cleaning  the  stables  and  the  yard,  in  mending  old  ropes  and  old 

est  enim  quam  sit  omne  Jus  civile,  praeter  hoc  nostrum,  inconditum  ac  paene  ricliculum.  He 
went  too  far  in  this  contempt  for  the  civil  laws  of  Greece,  as  is  proved  in  numerous  works 
recently  written  upon  the  jurisprudence  of  Athens.  We  even  find  in  the  Digest  the  text  of 
the  Athenian  laws  which  were  copied  by  the  Romans. 

1  Colum.,  (le  Re  rust.  xii.  praef. 

2  At  the  time  of  Varro,  they  showed  in  the  temple  of  Sancus  her  distaff  and  spindle,  still 
full,  they  said,  of  the  wool  which  she  spun.     (Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  viii.  48.) 

'  Cato,  de  Re  rust.,  praefat.,  and  PI.,  ib.  xviii.  3.  The  persons  of  most  consideration  in  the 
city  were  the  locupletes  loci,  hoc  est  agri plenos,  and  the  anniversary  of  the  foundation  of  Rome 
was  celebrated  on  the  21st  of  April,  the  day  of  the  feast  of  Pales,  the  guardian  deity  of  flocks. 

*  Taken  from  a  bas-relief  at  Rome,  representing  the  arts  of  Minerva. 

^  Nundinac,  every  nine  days.  After  the  year  287  the  comitia  could  be  convoked  on 
market-days.  Nundinarum  etiam  conventus  manifestum  est  propterea  usurpatos,ut  nonis  tantum- 
modo  diebus  urbanae  res  agerentur,  reliquis  adminisirarentur  rusticae.  (Colum.,  praef.,  and  Macr., 
Sat.  i.  16.) 


A   WOMAN    SriNXIN'G.* 


262 


KOME   UNDEE   THE   KINGS. 


clothes ;  even  on  feast  days  one  can  cut  brambles,  trim  hedges, 
wash  the  flock,  go  to  the  city  to  sell  oil  and  fruits."  ■*  In  order  to 
regulate  the  order  of  these  country  labors,  calendars  were  after- 
ward drawn  up,  which  we  have  found,  and  which  are  the  pre- 
decessors of  our  almanacs. 

Here   follow   the    indications    given    by   one    of    them   for   the 
month  of  May :  — 


MENSIS 

:\iAivs 

DIES.   XXXI 
XON.   SEPTBI 

DIES.  HOR.  xnn  s 

NOX.   HOR.  Villi  S 

sol  taitro 
tutel  apollin 
seget  rvncant 
o^t:s  tondvnt 
lana  lavatvr 
ivvexci.  domant 
vicea.  pabvlar 

SECATVR 

SEGETES 

LVSTRANTVK 

SACRYJI.   INIERCVR 

ET   FL0RAE.2 


The  Month 

of  May 
XXXI  days. 
The  nones  fall  on  the  7th  day. 
The  day  has  14  J  hours. 
The  night  has  9^  hours. 
The  sun  is  in  the  sign  of  Taurus. 
The  month  is  under  the  protection  of  Apollo. 
The  corn  is  weeded. 
The  sheep  are  shorn. 
The  wool  is  washed. 
Toung  steers  are  put  under  the  yoke. 
The  vetch  of  the  meadows 

is  cut. 
The  lustration  of  the  crops 
is  made 
Sacrifices  to  Mercury 
and  Flora. 


Horace  does  not  draw  a  more  agreeable  picture  of  ancient  city 
manners.     "  At  Rome,"  he  says,  "  for  a  long  time  a  man  knew  no 

other  pleasure  and  no  other  festival  than  to 
open  his  door  at  dawn,  to  explain  the  law 
to  his  clients,  and  to  lay  out  his  money 
on  good  security.  They  asked  from  their 
elders,  and  taught  beginners,  the  art  of  in- 
creasing their  savings  and  escaping  ruinous 
follies."  *  In  this  Italy,  so  full  of  super- 
stitions, Cato  will  not  have  the  farmer  lose 
sYi.\  ANUS.4  his  time  in  consulting  the  aruspices,  augurs, 


'  Verg.,  Gcnrq.  i.  273  ;  Colum.,  de  Re  rust.  ii.  21,  and  Cato,  dc  Re  rust.  39. 

-  This  inscription  (Corpus  inscr.  Lat.  vol.  vi.  p.  637)  is  taken  from  the  Calendarium  rustir 
cum  Farnesianum,  also  called  Menolofjium  rusticum  Colotianum ;  it  is  a  marble  cube,  bearing 
on  its  four  sides  the  indication  of  the  works  and  festivals  for  each  month. 

3  Ep.  ii.  1,  103-107. 

*  This  bronze  of  Hadrian  represents  Sylvanus,  the  guardian  of  the  rural  domain,  who  for 
this  reason  was  associated  with  the  Lares,  dragging  a  ram  and  holding  the  pedum,  or  crooked 


MANNEKS   AND  CUSTOMS.  263 

and  soothsayers ;  he  forbids  him  rehgious  practices  which  would 
take  him  away  from  his  liome.  His  gods  are  on  tlie  hearth  and 
at  the  nearest  cross-roads.  The  Lares,  Manes,  and  Sylvani  ai-e 
sulhcient  for  the  protection  of  the  farm ;  there  is  no  need  of 
other   gods.^ 

These  laborious  and  economical  habits,  which  introduced  usury, 
one  of  the  plagues  of  Roman  society,  have  been  those  of  all  agri- 
cultural nations;  but  everywhere  men  forgot  them  to  welcome  the 
guest  who  was  sent  by  the  gods,  and  hospitality  was,  even  for  the 
poorest,  a  religious  duty.  Among  the  Romans,  avarice  and  mis- 
trust closed  against  the  stranger  the  doors  of  the  villa,  which  was 
always  surrounded  with  broad  ditches  and  thick  hedges,  for  useless 
expenses  must  not  be  incurred  ;  nor  was  it  ever  right  to  give  or 
lend  without  gain,^  except  on  the  great  day  of  the  festival  of 
Janus,  the  1st  of  January,  when  everybody  exchanged  good  wishes 
and  presents,  strenae.  The  French  have  kept  both  the  word  and  the 
thing,  etrennes.  "The  father  of  the  family,"  said  Cato,  "must  make 
money  of  everything,  and  lose  nothing.  If  he  gives  new  brooms 
to  his  slaves,  they  must  return  the  old  ones ;  they  will  do  for 
pieces.  He  must  sell  the  oil  if  it  is  worth  anything,  and  what 
remains  of  the  wine  and  wheat ;  he  must  sell  old  oxen,  calves,  old 
carriages,  old  iron,  old  slaves  and  sick  ones  ;  he  must  sell  always. 
The  father  of  the  family  must  be  a  seller,  not  a  buyer."  ^  Durum 
genus  ! 

The  father  of  the  family!  It  is  always  he  who  is  mentioned, 
for  there  is  no  one  else  in  the  house  ;  wife,  children,  clients,  slaves, 
—  all  are  only  chattels,*  instruments  of  labor,  persons  without  will 
and  without  name,  subjected  to  the  omnipotence  of  the  father.  At 
once  priest  and  judge,  his  authority  is  absolute ;  he  alone  is  in  com- 
munication with  the  gods,  for  he  alone  performs  the  sacra  privata, 

staff  of  the  shepherds.  In  front,  there  are  a  temple,  a  burning  ahar,  and  a  bird  ;  beliind,  a  tree, 
which  recalls  the  god  of  the  woods.  As  the  god  cannot  offer  sacrifices  to  himself,  and  we  see 
neither  the  sacred  knife  nor  the  cup  of  libations,  I  should  be  inclined  to  think  that  they  wished 
to  signify  by  this  representation,  that,  thanks  to  Sylvanus,  the  altar  would  not  lack  the  necessary- 
victims. 

*  De  Re  rust. :  Rem  divinam  nisi  compitalibus,  in  compito  aut  in  foco  facial. 

^  Satin  semen,  cibariajar,  vinum,  oleum,  mutuum,  dederet  nemini.   (Cato,  de  Re  rust.  5.) 
s  Ibid.  2. 

*  Majicipia,  hence  emancipatio ;  the}'  are  not  sni,  but  alieni,  juris,  and  cannot  enter  an 
action.     It  is  the  father  who  answers  for  them  or  judges  them. 


264     •  ROME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

and  as  master,  he  disposes  of  the  powers  and  life  of  his  slaves. 
As  husband,  he  condemns  his  wife  to  death  ^  if  she  forges  false 
keys  or  violates  her  vow,  and  he  is  exempt,  in  her  case,  from  the 
religion  of  mourning,  the  piety  of  remembrance.^  As  father,  he 
kills  the  child  that  is  born  deformed,  and  sells  the  others,  as  many 
as  three  times,  before  losing  his  claims  upon  them.  Neither  age 
nor  dignities  emancipate  them.  Though  consuls  or  senators,  they 
may  be  dragged  from  the  platform  or  the  senate-house,  or  put  to 
death  like  that  senator,  an  accomplice  of  Catiline,  who  was  killed 
by  his  father.  If  he  is  rich,  he  will  lend  at  12,  15,  or  20  per  cent., 
for  the  father  of  the  family  must  turn  his  money  as  well  as  his 
lands  to  account,  and  the  law  grants  to  him  the  liberty  and  even  the 
life  of  his  insolvent  debtor.  Finally,  at  his  death,  neither  his  children 
nor  his  wife  can  claim  any  of  his  goods,  if  he  has  bequeathed  them  to 
a  stranger  ;  for  he  has  the  right  to  dispose  of  his  7-es  as  he  chooses.^ 
Nevertheless  the  city  includes  and  rules  the  family.  For  the  wish 
of  the  father  to  be  carried  out,  it  is  necessary  for  his  will  to  be 
accepted  by  the  Curiae,  and  they  do  not  like  the  patrimony  to  depart 
from  the  family. 

It  is  through  women  especially  that  manners  change,  that 
families,  classes,  and  fortunes  mingle ;  but  in  this  society,  so 
severely  disciplined,  the  woman,  the  changing  element,  remains 
under  guardianship*  all  her  life.  She  belongs  to  the  house,  not  to 
the  city,  and  in  the  house  she  always  has  a  master,  —  her  father 
when  she  is  a  girl ;  her  husband  when  she  is  married ;  her  nearest 
male  agnate  when  she  is  a  widow.  One  of  the  causes  of  the  ruin 
of  Sparta  was  the  right  which  Lycurgus  had  left  to  women  of 
inheriting  and   disposing  of  their  goods.^    At  Rome,  if  the  woman 

1  Dionys.,  ii.  25  ;  PL,  Hist.  Nat.  xiv.  13  ;  Suet,  Tib.  35  ;  TsiC,  Ann.  xiii.  32  ;  Hut.,  Rom. 
22  ;  /cXeiSui'  xmojioXjj  Er/natius  Mecenius  uxorem,  quod  vinum  biliisset,  fuati  percussam  inleremiC. 
(Val.  Blax.,  VI.  iii.  9.)     [But  not,  I  fancy,  without  a  family  council.  — Ed.] 

"  Uxorex  viri  lugerc  non  compeltentvr.  —  Sponsi  nullus  luclus  est  (Dig.  iii.  2,  9)  ;  and  else- 
where, Vir  non  luget  uxorem,  nullam  debei  uxori  religionem  luctus. 

'  Uti  legasset  super  pecunia,  tutelave  suae  rei,  ita  jus  esto.  (Fr.  XII.  Tab.)  Wills 
had  to  be  presented  for  the  sanction  of  the  Curiae  or  at  the  moment  of  setting  out  for 
an  expedition  in  procinctu  (j;xercitus,  expeditus,  et  armatus).  (Ulp.,  Fr.  xx.  2 ;  Gaius, 
ii.   101.) 

■•  Nullam  ne  privatum  quidem,  rem  agere  feminas  sine  tutore  auctore  .  .  .  in  manu  esse 
parentium,  fratrum  virorum.  .  .  .  (Cato,  ap.  Livy,  xxxiv.  2.)  The  guardian  had  over  the 
ward  the  rights  of  the  patria  potestas.     (Fest.,  s.  v.  Remancipata.') 

»  Arist.,  Polit.  ii.  G. 


MANNEES  AUD  CUSTOMS.  265 

obtained  any  share  ^  in  the  heritage  of  her  father  or  husband,  she 
could  not,  except  in  the  case  of  the  Vestals,  in  honoreni  sacerdotii, 
either  transfer  or  bequeath  it  without  the  consent  of  her  guardians, 
that  is  to  say,  of  her  husband,  brothers,  or  her  nearest  male  relatives 
on  the  paternal  side,  all  interested,  as  her  heirs,  in  preventing  a 
sale  or  a  legacy.  They  had  also  the  right  of  opposing  ordinary 
marriage  (coemptio  vel  cohabitatio).  The  father  only,  by  refusing 
his  consent,  could  prevent  solemn  marriage  {confarreatio),  ^  which, 
in  any  case,  did  not  take  place  between  a  plebeian  and  a  patrician. 
Placed  under  perpetual  tutelage,  she  could  confer  no  right,  and  the 
relationship  established  by  her  had  no  civil  effects ;  the  child  followed 
the  father.  In  short,  when  she  passed  into  another  house,  the 
woman  did  not  take  the  lares  of  the  paternal  hearth,  for  these 
domestic  gods  never  went  to  dwell  under  a  strange  roof.  For  her 
there  was  another  family,  and  other  gods.  "  Marriage,"  said  the 
lawyers  later,  "  is  an  association  based  on  the  community  of  the 
same    things,  divine   and   human."  ^ 

But,  whether  maid  or  matron,  the  woman  was  treated  with 
reverence.  Marriage  was  a  holy  thing,  consecrated  by  religion ; 
and  the  mother  of  a  family  reigned  alone  by  the  side  of  her 
husband  in  the  conjugal  dwelling,  in  which  polygamy  was  pro- 
scribed. Like  him,  she  performed  the  sacred  rites  at  the  altar  of 
the  Penates ;  if  he  was  a  flamen,  she  became  a  priestess,  flaminica ; 
she  alone  had  the  right  of  wearing  in  the  streets  the  stola,  which 
caused  a  matron  to  be  recognized  at  a  distance,  and  assured  her 
public  respect. 

The  right  of  life  and  death  given  to  the  husband  over  his 
wife  was  originally  only  applied  in  the  case  of  patrician  marriage 
by  confarreatio,  the  law  not  yet  concerning  itself  with  plebeian 
unions.  As  soon  as  the  betrothed  had  tasted  of  a  symbolical  cake 
{far),  passed  under  a  cart-yoke,  put  the  as  in  the  balance, 
on  the  Penates,  on  the  threshold  of  the  conjugal  house,  and  pro- 
nounced  the  formula,    JJhi  tu   Gaius,  ego   Gaia,  she  fell,  according 

The  share  of  a  child,  TcXevTTjo-ayros  tov  dvdpos  KXrjpovofios  iyiviro  to)V  ^prjfidroyv  as  dvydrrfp 
TroTpiis.      (Dionys.,  ii.  25.) 

-  Dionysius  says  of  this  sort  of  union  that  it  took  place  Kara  vaiiovs  Upois. 

'  Nuptiae  sunt  conjunctio  maris  et  feminae  consortium  omnis  vitae,  divini  et  humani  Juris 
comtnunicatiu.     (Dig.  x.xiii.  2,  1.)      Uxor  socia  humanae  rei  alque  divlnae.  (Cod.  ix.  1)2,  4.) 


266    ■ 


EOME    UNDER   THE   KINGS. 


to  the  hard  expression  of  the  law,  into  the  hand  of  her  husband  {in 
manum  viri),  and  her  dowry  became,  like  her  person,  the   property 

(res)  of  her  husband.^  The  XII. 
Tables  grant  the  same  rights  to 
the  plebeian  marriage  when  it 
has  lasted  a  year  without  inter- 
ruption, usu  amii  continui  in 
manum  conveniehat. 

In  case  of  divorce,  the  hus- 
band kept  the  dowry.  But  in 
this  age  of  harsh  and  austere 
manners,  divorce  was  unknown,^ 
and  the  matrons  had  not  yet 
raised  that  temple  to  Modesty 
whose  doors  were  closed  against 
the  woman  who  had  twice  offered 
the  sacrifices  of  betrothal. 

Customs  and  beliefs,  on  the 
contrary,  made  almost  a  necessity 
of  divorce,  when  the  marriage 
remained  barren.  For  it  was 
not  the  union  of  two  hearts, 
but  the  accomplishment  of  a 
civil  and  religious  obligation, —  to 
give  new  defenders  to  the  city 
and  perpetuate  for  the  domestic 
gods  the  rites  of  the  hearth  — 
for  the  ancestors,  the  honors  of 
the  tomb.  When  a  family  dis- 
appeared, they  said,  "  It  is  a 
®^°^'^'  hearth  extinguished." 

Aristocratic    associations   insured    to    the    future    head    of    the 
family  —  the  eldest  son  —  greater  advantages  than  to  his  brothers. 


1  Omnia  quae  muUeris  fuerunt,  virafiunt,  doth  nomine.     (Cic,  pro  Cnccina.) 

2  Distinctive  garment  of  Roman  matrons.     Taken  fi-ora  tlie  Mus.  Borhon.  iii.  pi.  37. 

^  The  first  divorce  mentioned  bj'  the  Annals,  that  of  Sp.  Carvilius,  is  in  the  year  of 
Rome  520  (233).  "  He  separated  from  his  wife,"  says  Aulus  Gellius  (IV.  iii.  2),  "although 
he  loved  her  much,  because  he  could  not  have  (-hildren  by  her." 


MANNERS   AND   CUSTOMS.  2(57 

Roman  law  did  not  go  so  far  as  proclaiming  the  riglit  of  primo- 
geniture, which  proceeds  from  a  principle  unknown  to  antiquity,  — 
the  indivisibility  of  the  fief,  —  for  it  was  too  much  preoccupied  with 
the  absolute  power  of  the  father  to  limit  his  rights  in  anything ; 
but  in  leaving  him  the  free  disposition  of  his  goods,  it  permitted 
him,  in  the  interest  of  his  house,  to  settle  a  greater  portion  on  the 
eldest  of  his  children.-'  These  rights  of  the  father,  however,  being 
once  reserved,  Roman  law  ordained,  in  case  of  decease  without  will, 
equal  division  among  all  the  children.  This  entirely  democratic 
clause,  after  having  enfeebled  the  patrician  aristocracy,  enabled 
the  lawyers  of  the  Middle  Ages  to  make  a  breach  in  the  feudal 
system. 

Such  is  the  law  of  the  Quirites,  jus  Quiritium,  and  we  find 
here  the  triple  basis  on  which  rests  this  society,  so  profoundly 
aristocratic,  —  the  inviolability  of  property,  of  land,  or  of  money ; 
the  unlimited  rights,  and  the  religious  character  of  the  head  of  the 
family.^ 


m.   Public  Mantsters. 

The  rights  of  parental  authority  were  likely  to  produce  docile 
subjects.  Having  become  a  citizen,  the  son  transferred  from  his 
father  to  the  state  the  same  respect  and  the  same  obedience.  It  is 
a  characteristic  of  small  societies  that  patriotism  varies  inversely  with 
the  extent  of  territory,  and  is  stronger  in  proportion  as  the  enemy's 
frontier  is  nearer.  For  then  the  man  belongs  mpre  to  the  state 
than  to  his  famil}'.  He  is  rather  a  citizen  than  husband  or  father, 
and  domestic  affections  are  postponed  to  love  of  the  native  soil  and 
its  laws.  To  serve  the  state  was  the  first  law  of  the  Romans ;  and 
in  the  Dream  of  Scipio,  that  lialf-Christian  essay,  immortality 
is  promised  only  to  great  citizens.       By    these    causes    is    explained 

I  Thus,  in  Greek  mythology,  Hercules  is  submissive  to  Eurystheus. 

^  Dionysius  (ii.  26)  contrasts  the  prodigious  extension  at  Rome  of  the  patrin  pntrxtas 
with  the  narrow  limits  in  which  Solon,  Pittakos,  Charondas,  and  all  the  Greek  legislators 
had  confined  it.  At  Kome  the  father  was  everything  in  the  family,  as  the  state  was 
everything  in  the  city.  This  severe  organization  proves  that  at  first  the  most  rigorous 
discipline  had  been  necessary  to  insure  its  safety,  and  that  some  trace  of  it  was  left  in  tho 
gentes. 


268  EOME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

the  respect  of  the  plebeians  for  institntions,  even  when  they  were 
opposed  to  them,  and  those  secessions,  unaccompanied  by  pillage, 
those  bloodless  revolutions,  that  pacific  progress  which  took  place 
gradually  in  constitutional  ways.  Hence  come,  too,  in  ordinary 
life,  the  submission  to  old  customs  and  to  the  letter  of  the 
law,  on  which  it  would  be  sacrilege  to  put  a  new  construction, — 
that  blind  faith  in  the  incomprehensible  formulae  of  worship  and 
jurisprudence,  and  the  authority,  so  long  recognized,  of  the  acta 
legitima. 

The  word  religion  signifies  bond  [or  obligation].  In  no 
other  country,  in  no  other  times,  has  this  bond  been  so  strong 
as  at  Rome ;  it  united  the  citizens  to  one  another  and  to  the 
state.  As  the  Romans  saw  gods  everywhere  ;  as  all  nature,  sky, 
earth,  and  water  was  to  them  full  of  divinities  who  watched  over 
human  beings  with  benevolent  or  jealous  eyes,  there  was  no  act 
of  life  which  did  not  require  a  prayer  or  an  offering,  a  sacrifice 
or  a  purification,  according  to  the  rites  prescribed  by  the  ministers 
of  religion.  This  piety,  being  the  offspring  of  fear,  was  all 
the  more  attentive  in  observing  signs  considered  favorable  or 
the  reverse ;  so  that  everything  depended  on  religion,  —  private  life, 
from  the  cradle  to  the  tomb,  public  life,  from  the  comitia  to  the 
field  of  battle ;  even  business  and  pleasure.^  Games  and  races  were 
celebrated  in  honor  of  the  gods ;  the  people's  songs  were  hymns, 
their  dances  a  prayer,  their  music,  uncouth  but  sacred  harmonies; 
and,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages,  the  earliest  dramas  were  pious 
mysteries.  By  the  continual  intervention  of  the  pontiffs,  who 
knew  the  necessary  rites  and  sacred  formulae,  by  that  of  the 
augurs,  aruspices,  and  all  the  interpreters  of  omens,  this  religion, 
devoid  of  dogmas  and  of  clergy,  of  ideal  and  of  love  —  made  up 
of  silly  superstitions,  like  that  of  some  of  their  descendants  —  was 
yet  a  great  force  of  cohesion  for  the  state  and  a  powerful  dis- 
cipline for  the  citizens. 

No  people  —  some  famous  examples  notwithstanding  —  ever  pushed 
so  far  the  religion  of  the  oath.  Nothing  could  take  place  —  raising 
of  troops,  division  of  booty,  lawsuits,  judgments,  public  affairs,  pri- 
vate affairs,  sales,  contracts,  or  anything  else  —  without  the  swearmg 

1  Livy  well  says  (vi.  41):  Aur^piciis  hanc  urbem  conditam  esse,  auspiciis  hello  ac  pace 
domi  miUtiaeque  omnia  geri,  quis  est  qui  ignoret? 


MANNERS   AND   CUSTOMS.  2G9 

of  either  fidelity  and  obedience  or  of  justice  and  good  faith,  the 
gods  being  called  upon  to  bear  witness  to  the  sincerity  of  the 
parties.  At  sales  the  purchaser,  in  the  presence  of  five  citizens 
of  full  age,  put  the  bronze,  the  price  of  the  purchase,  into  a 
balance  held  by  the  Uhripens,  and  touching  with  his  hand  the  land, 
the  slave,  or  the  ox  which  he  was  Jjuying,  said :  "  This  is  mine, 
according  to  the  law  of  the  Quirites ;  I  have  paid  for  it  in  copper 
duly  weighed."  This  right  of  selling  or  buying  by  mancij^ation^ 
{manic  eapere,  to  take  with  the  hand),  without  the  intervention  of 
a  magistrate  and  without  written  receipt,  was  one  of  the  privileges 
of  the  Quirites,  and  doubtless  one  of  their  most  ancient  customs. 
It  explams  the  importance  of  that  law,  —  Utl  lingua  nuncupassit, 
ita  jus  esto,  such  as  the  word  is,  so  is  the  right,  —  which  pene- 
trated so  far  into  the  Roman  habits  that  it  made  them  the  most 
faithful  of  all  nations  to  their  word,  but  to  the  literal  word,  to 
the  actual  sense,  even  should  good  faith  be  impaired  thereby.  Thus 
for  a  loan  it  was  necessary  to  say :  Dari  sjjo^ides  ?  Dost  thou 
promise  the  gift  ?  And  the  lender  must  reply :  Spondeo,  I  under- 
take to  do  so.  Should  either  of  the  two  change  one  of  these 
words,  there  was  no  longer  any  contract,  no  creditor  or  debtor ;  and 
if  the  money  had  been  delivered  it  was  lost.  A  man  brings  into 
court  a  neighbor  who  has  cut  his  vines,  and  produces  against 
him  the  terms  of  the  law ;  but  the  law  speaks  of  trees,  he 
says  vme  —  the  suit  cannot  proceed.  The  leaders  oi  a  sedition, 
seeing  that  the  soldiers  are  hindered  from  joining  by  the  oath 
they  have  sworn  to  the  consuls,  propose  to  kill  the  latter. 
"  When  they  are  dead,"  say  they,  "  the  soldiers  will  be  free 
from  their  oath."  At  the  Caudine  Forks  the  generals  give  the 
Samnites  a  verbal  promise ;  but  there  is  not,  as  is  necessary  to 
bind  two  nations,  any  treaty  concluded  by  the  fetiales  with  the 
sacred  herb,  and  consecrated  by  the  sacrifice  of  a  victim,  there- 
fore the  agreement  is,  as  regards  religion,  invalid,  and  the  Senate 
annuls  it.^ 

This  servile   attachment  to  les-al  forms  came  from  the   relierious 

'  All  objects  of  property  were  divided  into  res  mancipi  (lands,  houses,  slaves,  oxen,  horses, 
mules,  asses),  and  res  nee  mancipi.  The  possession  of  the  latter  was  transmitted  by  tlie  simple 
dehvery  to  the  purchaser.     For  the  others,  the  formahties  just  described  were  necessary. 

-  Livy,  ii.  32. 


270    '  ROME   UNDER   THE   KINGS. 

character  of  the  law  and  from  the  belief  imposed  l^y  the  doctrine 
of  augury,  that  the  least  inadvertence  in  the  accomplishment  of 
rites  was  sufficient  to  alienate  the  good  will  of  the  gods.  Con- 
suls were  often  obliged  to  resign  on  account  of  some  negligence 
committed  in  the  consultation  of  omens.'^  How  often  did  religion 
itself  suffer  thereby,  when  by  clever  evasions  the  Romans  deceived 
their  gods  with  an  easy  conscience  ! 

The  principal  occupation  of  the  Romans  was  agriculture ;  for 
the  small  amount  of  manufacture  then  at  Rome,  save  a  few 
trades  necessary  to  the  army,  was  abandoned  to  the  poor  citizens 
and  strangers.^  But  agriculture  did  not  enrich  the  small  pro- 
prietor; it  was  well  when  it  yielded  him  a  livelihood,  and  he  was 
not  forced,  in  order  to  supply  a  deficiency  of  the  crops,  to  draw 
on  the  rich  man's  purse,  —  to  have  recourse  to  the  fatal  assistance 
of  the  usurer.  In  later  times  the  usurer  was  a  plebeian  knight  or 
a  freed  man.  At  this  epoch  he  was  almost  always  a'  patrician,^ 
for  to  the  incomes  derived  from  their  estates  the  patricians  united 
the  profits  of  maritime  commerce,  wliich  they  had  perhaps  reserved 
to  themselves.  The  insolvent  debtor  had  no  pity  to  expect,  for 
movable  property  was  as  strictly  protected  as  landed  property. 
"  If  he  pay  not,"  said  the  law,  "  let  him  be  ,  cited  into  court. 
If  illness  or  age  hinder,  let  him  be  provided  with  a  horse,  but  not 
a  litter.  The  debt  being  acknowledged  and  judgment  given,  let 
there  be  thirty  days'  grace.  If  he  still  fails  to  pay,  the  creditor 
shall  cast  him  into  the  ergastulum,  bound  with  straps  or  chains 
weighing  15  pounds.  At  the  end  of  sixty  days  let  him  be 
produced  on  three  market  days  and  sold  beyond  the  Tiber.  If 
there  be  several  creditors,  they  may  divide  his  body ;  it  matters 
not  whether  they    cut  more  or  less."  *     This  was  a  dangerous  and 


1  Plutarch,  Marcel t.  5. 

2  To  Numa,  however,  is  attributed  the  formation  of  nine  corporations  (Phit.,  Numa,  17)  : 
the  flute-players,  goldsmiths,  carpenters,  dyers,  shoemakers,  turners,  copj)er-workers,  and 
potters ;  all  the  other  artisans  were  united  in  a  single  corporation. 

^  Dionys.,  iv.  11;  Livy,  vi.  36.  Nobiles  doinos  .  .  .  uhicumque  palricius  hahltct,  ibi  carcerem 
privatum  esse. 

*  .  .  .  Secanto.  si  plusve  minusve  secuerunt,  se  (for  sine)  fraude  esto.  (Frag,  of  XII. 
Tables.)  It  may  possibly  be  that  in  the  fifth  century  before  our  era,  the  sectio  no  longer  referred 
to  more  than  the  price  of  the  sold  delitor ;  but  for  earlier  ages  it  must  certainly  be  taken  in  its 
literal  .sense,  although,  according  to  Dion.  (Frag,  xxxii.),  who  knows  nothing  of  it,  it  was  never 
practised. 


MANNERS   AND   CUSTOMS.  271 

impolitic  cruelty,  for  the  crowd  could  not  always  remain  indiifer- 
ent  to  the  sight  of  a  corpse,  or  the  appearance  in  the  Forum  of 
a  man  of  tlie  people  half  dead  under  the  lash  for  the  sake  of 
a  little  money  which  he  could  not  pay. 

To  sum  up,  the  history  of  the  early  age  of  Rome  shows  us 
a  cold  and  melancholy  people,  eager  for  gain,  disdaining  the 
ideal  which  returns  no  interest  —  without  fire,  without  youth.  But 
this  nation,  which  seems  never  to  have  lived  its  teens,  owed  to 
its  origin,  and  the  circumstances  of  its  historic  existence,  the 
most  severe  discipline  in  the  family,  in  religion  and  in  the 
state.  If  during  centuries  it  never  knew  aught  of  poetry  or 
art,  it  had  more  than  any  other  the  sentiment  of  duty :  its 
citizens  knew  how  to  obey.  That  is  why,  in  later  times,  they 
knew  how  to  command.  Moreover,  the  aristocratic  constitution 
which  resulted  from  its  customs  permitted  it  to  be  prudent  in  designs 
and  persevering  in  action ;  and  a  military  organization,  already 
excellent,  henceforth  provides  it  with  the  means  of  carrying  out 
everything  which  it  undertakes.  When  the  endless  strifes  of  the 
Forum  and  the  outer  world  come,  it  can  apply  itself  to  them 
with  the  energy  which  insures  victory,  with  the  political  ability 
which  preserves  the  state. 

*  The  Lares,  each  holding  a  rod  and  caressing  a  dog;  above,  a  head  of  Vulcan,  and 
pincers ;  on  the  right  and  left  the  letters  LA  RE  (Lares).  Reverse  of  a  silver  coin  of  the 
Caesian  family. 


L.   CAE31.1 


SECOND   PERIOD. 

ROME  UNDER  THE  PATRICIAN  CONSULS  (509-367  b.  c). 

STRUGGLES  WITHIN  —  WEAKNESS  WITHOUT. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

INTERNAL  HISTORY  TEOM  509   TO  470. 

I.   Aristocratic  Character  of  the  Revolution  of  509 : 

The  Consulship. 

THE  Kings  of  Rome  had  not  been  more  fortunate  than  the 
Caesars  were  afterward.  Of  seven  of  them,  five  liad  died, 
as  so  many  Emperors  did,  a  violent  death.  The  reason  was  that 
both  liad  the  same  enemy,  —  a  powerful  aristocracy.  Moreover, 
the  abolition  of  royalty  is  a  very  common  historical  incident. 
Throughout  the  whole  Graeco-Italian  world,  the  kings  of  the 
heroic  age  give  place  sooner  or  later  to  the  nobles,  who,  at 
Rome,  were  called  patricians.  Superbus  does  not,  perhaps,  merit 
the  reputation  that  legend  has  affixed  to  him ;  but  the  nobles 
did  not  wish  for  another  chief  who  could,,  like  Servius,  prepare 
for  political  life  the  crowd  of  plebeians  whom  they  held  in  sub- 
jection, or,  like  Tarquin,  strike  off  the  higher  heads.  They  replaced 
the  King  by  two  consuls  or  praetors,  chosen  from  their  midst  and 
invested  with  all  the  rights  and  all  the  insignia  of  royalty,  except 
the  crown  and  the  purple  mantle  worked  with  gold. 

At  once  the  ministers  and  presidents  of  the  Senate,  —  adminis- 
trators, judges,  and  generals,  —  the  consuls  had    sovereign    power, 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  FROM  509  TO  470. 


273 


CONSUL    BETWEEN 

TWO    LAUREL- 
CROWNED    FASCES.- 


regium  imperium^  but  only  for  one  year.  In  the  interior  of  the 
city  the  nol^les  did  not  allow  them  both  to  exercise  the  prero- 
gatives of  their  magistracy  at  the  same  time.  Each  had  the 
authority,  and  the  twelve  lictors  with  their  fasces,  for  a  month. 
If  they  differed  in  opinion,  the  opposition  of  one,  intercessio, 
arrested  the  decisions  of  the  other,  —  a  con- 
servative measure  ;  for  the  interdict  prevails  over 
the  command,  that  is,  the  old  order  prevails 
against  the  new.  For  a  sudden  attack  on  the 
institutions  they  would  have  needed  a  military 
force ;  now  Rome  had  no  soldiers  but  her  citi- 
zens, and  no  one  could  appear  in  arms  within 
the  pomerium.  As  the  consuls  were  responsible 
for  their  acts,  they  were  exposed,  on  quit- 
ting office,  to  formidaljle  accusations.  Thus  the 
royal  authority  was  divided,  without  being  weak- 
ened ;  it  remained  strong  without  the  power  of 
again  becommg  dangerous,  since  it  was  renewed 
yearly ;  and  by  the  intercessio  it  was  self-re- 
straining. But  should  a  danger  arise  demanding 
the  rapid  concentration  of  power,  it  reappeared  complete  in  the 
dictatorship. 

The  nobles  did  not  desire  that  the  revolution  should  extend 
to  the  gods.  Custom  required  that  certain  sacrifices  should  Ijc 
offered  by  a  king,  so  they  appointed  a  rex  sacrorum  to  perform 
them ;  but  all  ambition  was  forbidden  him,  he  was  declared 
incapable  of  filling  any  other  office. 

Finally,  the  centuries  of  Servius  were  re-established,  or 
became  for  the  first  time  the  great  political  assembly  of  the 
Eoman  people,  under  guaranties  which  prevented  all  encroach- 
ment.     In  memory  of  their  early  character  they  met  outside  the 


*  Uti  consules  potestatem  Jiaherent  .  .  .  regiam.  (Cic,  de  Rep.  ii.  32.)  Livy  (i.  GO)  says 
that  the  consuls  were  elected  ex  Commentariu  Servi  TuUi. 

^  Consular  coin  of  Cn.  I'iso.  The  fasces,  the  insignia  of  victory,  were  surrounded  with 
wreaths  of  laurel;  the  victor  and  his  soldiers  wore  laurel  too,  for  it  was  considered  a  pre- 
servative against  evils,  and  a  guaranty  against  the  shocks  of  Fortune,  which  is  wont  to  strike 
more  particularly  at  happy  people.  This  coin,  given  by  iMorell,  after  Goltzius,.is  no  longer 
to  be  found  in  any  collection. 

'  Consular  coin  of  C.  Norbanus :  a  fasces  with  an  axe,  a  caduceus,  and  an  ear  of  wheat. 

VOL.   I.  18 


274        '  EOME    UNDEll   THE   TATKICIAN   CONSULS. 

pomerium,  in  the  Field  of  Mars,  not  at  the  call  of  the  lictors, 
like  the  comitia  of  the  Curiae,  but  at  the  sound  of  the  trumpet. 
Before  they  met  it  was  necessary  to  consult  the  auspices,  so  that 
religion  kept  them  in  dependence  on  the  patrician  augurs.  The 
convocation  must  be  aimounced  thirty  days  beforehand  {dies  justi), 
that  none  might  be  unaware  of  it ;  and  to  avoid  all  chance  of 
surprise  by  the  enemy,  a  red  flag  floated  over  the  Janiculum, 
which  a  picket  occupied  while  the  comitia  lasted.^ 

The  government  really  remained  in  the  hands  of  the 
patricians.  They  were  masters  of  the  Senate,  the  supreme  council 
of  the  city,  wherein  most  of  the  propositions  afterward  laid  before 
the  comitia  must  first  be  discussed,  and  they  were  predominant  in 
the  assembly  of  centuries  l>y  their  wealth  and  the  number  of 
their  clients.  If  any  plebeians,  who  had  by  their  fortune  reached 
the  highest  classes,  threatened  to  render  the  vote  of  the  centuries 
unfavoraljle,  the  patrician  magistrate,  who  presided  over  the 
comitia,  could  always,  by  means  of  the  augurs,  break  up  the 
assembly  or  annul  its  decisions ;  or,  if  ill  omens  failed,  cause  a 
popular  resolution  to  be  rejected  by  the  Senate. 

Rome  had,  then,  an  upper  house,  which  discussed  the  law 
twice,  once  before  and  once  after  it  had  been  laid  before  the 
comitia,  and  a  lower  house,  composed  of  the  whole  people,  which 
voted,  but  did  not  discuss.  It  was  somewhat  like  our  three 
readings.  But  the  largest  share  of  influence  was  accorded  to 
maturity  of  mind  and  to  experience  in  public  affairs,  since  by 
its  preliminary  authorization  the  Senate  had  the  initiative  in 
]3roposing  laws,  and,  by  their  right  of  confirmation  or  rejection, 
the  power  to  arrest  the  proceedings  of  a  magistrate  who  had 
presented  to  the  comitia,  and  caused  them  to  pass,  a  revolu- 
tionary bill. 

All  was  done  with  the  same  precautions  in  the  elective 
comitia :  the  president  proposed  to  the  people  the  candidates 
whom    the    Senate    and    the    augurs    preferred,    and    the    assembly 

^  Livy,  xxxix.  15  .  .  .  nisi  quum  vexillo  in  arce  posito  comitiorum  causa  exercitus  cduclus 
csnet.  Cf.  Aulus  Gellius,  XV.  27  ;  Dionys.,  vii.  59.  .  .  .  &o-7rfp  txTroXf/iia),  andMacrob.,  5a^  i.  16. 
The  comitia  could  be  held  only  on  set  days,  dies  fasti,  during  which  it  was  allowable 
to  engage  in  state  affairs.  There  were  about  190  of  these  days  in  the  year.  The  dies  ncfasti, 
or  ferial  days,  were  those  on  which  religion  closed  the  tribunals  and  forbade  all  public  trans- 
actions.    (Varro,  de  Ling.  Lai.  vi.  29 ;  Festus,  s.  v.  Dies  comitiales.) 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  FROM  509  TO   470.  275 

could  only  vote  on  these  names.  If  a  flatterer  of  the  masses 
succeeded  in  obtaining  a  nomination  displeasing  to  the  great,  the 
assembly  of  the  Curiae,  composed  of  patricians  only,  had  the  right 
of  refusing  to  grant  the  chosen  magistrate  the  imperium,  —  that  is, 
the  powers  necessaiy  for  the  exercise  of  his  office ;  ^  and  this 
assembly  also  formed  the  supreme  tribunal  of  the  city.^ 

It  was  really,  then,  the  patricians  who  made  the  laws  and 
appointed  to  public  offices,  all  of  which  they  themselves  filled, 
Jus  honorum.  They  held  the  priesthood  and  the  auspices ;  they 
were  priests,  augurs,  and  judges ;  and  they  carefully  hid  from  the 
eyes  of  the  people  the  mysterious  formulae  of  public  worship  and 
of  jurisprudence.  Finally,  they  alone  had  the  jus  imaginum,  which 
fed  the  hereditary  pride  of  family,  while  at  the  same  time  the 
prohibition  of  marriages  between  the  two  orders  seemed  likely  to 
bar  forever  the  people's  access  to  the  positions  held  by  the  nobles, 
and  entry  into  that  Senate  which  was  their  foi'tress.  ^ 

B;it  the  plebeians  had  in  their  favor  their  numbers,  and  even 
their  very  misery,  which  soon  drove  them  into  successful  revolt. 
They  were  no  longer  a  stranger  people,  they  were  a  second  order 
in  the  State,  which  grew  iinobserved  and  unceasingly  in  face  of 
the  other,  and  which  the  patricians  were  obliged  to  arm  in  order 
to  resist  Tarquin,  the  Aequi,  Volsci,  and  Etruscans.  This  assist- 
ance must  earn  its  reward.  Already  the  people  had  received 
judges  of  their  own,  who  decide  in  most  civil  suits,  and  religious 
festivals,  at  which  the  assembled  plebeians  could  reckon  their 
numbers ;  and  it  was  from  the  military  centuries,  or  the  two  orders 
united,  that  the  nomination  of  the  consuls*  proceeded,  as  Servius 
TuUius  is  said  to  have  proposed.  Henceforth  the  comitia  centu- 
riata  makes  the  laws  which  the  Senate  proposes,  and  the  elections 
which  the  Curiae  confirm,  and  decides  for  peace  or  war.  These 
serious  innovations  satisfied  popular  ambition  for  the  time,  for  the 


1  Ut  pauca  per  popuhim,  pleraque  Senatus  auctoritate  .  .  .  gererentur  .  .  .  Populi  comitia, 
nc  essent  rata,  nisi  ca  patrum  approhamsset  auctoritas.  (Cic.  de  Hep.  ii.  32.)  Ergo  .  .  .  nee 
cenluriatis,  nee  curiatis  comitiis  patres  anctores  Jiant.     (Livy,  vi.  41.) 

^  It  will  be  seen  further  on  that  it  was  the  XII.  Tables  which  gave  the  centuries  their 
high  criminal  jurisdiction. 

*  .  .  .  Servili  imperio  patres  plehem  exercere,  de  vita  atque  tergo  regio  more  consulere,  agru 
pcllere  et  ceteris  expertibus  soli  in  imperio  agere.     (Sail.  Uist.fr.  i.  11.) 

*  Dionys.,  v.  2. 


276  ROME   UNDER   THE  PATRICIAN  CONSULS. 

plebeians  saw  men  of  their  own  order  in  the  first  classes,  and 
patricians  in  the  last,  like  Cincinnatus,  who,  after  his  son's  law- 
suit, had  only  six  acres  of  land  for  his  own  property.' 

The  Eonian  plebs  was  not,  however,  like  that  populace 
of  great  cities  which  is  seen  chafing,  struggling,  and  calming 
down  at  random,  —  a  blind  force,  which  only  becomes  formidable 
when  it  finds  a  leader.  The  plebeians,  too,  had  their  nobility, 
their  old  families,  and  even  royal  families ;  for  the  patricians  of 
conquered  towns,  like  the  Mamilii,  the  Papii,  the  Cilnii,  and 
Caecinae  in  later  times,  had  not  all  been  received  into  the 
Roman  patriciate.  Other  families,  of  patrician  origin,  but  whom 
circumstances  unknown  to  us  drove  out  of  the  Curiae  or  hindered 
from  entering  them  —  the  Virginii,  the  Genucii,  the  Menii,  the 
Melii,  the  Oppii,  the  Metelli,  and  the  Octavii,  placed  themselves 
at  the  head  of  the  people ;  and  these  men,  who  could  vie  in 
nobility  with  the  proudest  senators,  by  joining  their  fortunes  with 
the  order  into  which  they  had  been  driven,  furnished  the  plebs 
with  ambitious  leaders,  and  its  efforts  with  skilful  direction.^  As 
the  price  of  the  help  afforded  to  the  nobles   against  Tarquin,  they 

1  Val.  Max.,  IV.  iv.  7. 

-  The  lletelli  claimed  descent  from  Caeculus,  son  of  Vulcan  and  founder  of  Praeneste. 
They  were  plebeians,  and  yet  Livy  calls  them  patricians  (iv.  4).  The  f/ens  Furia,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  patrician,  yet  he  calls  the  Furii  plebeians  (ix.  42  and  xxxix.  7) ;  the  Melii  and  INIenii 
were  plebeians  :  he  calls  them  patricians  (v.  12)  ;  the  Virginii  (v.  29)  and  the  Atilii  (iv.  7)  were 
patricians  :  he  makes  them  plebeians  (v.  13,  and  x.  23) ;  the  Cassii,  Oppii,  and  Genucii  are  in  like 
manner  called  bj'  turns  patricians  and  plebeians,  consuls  and  tribunes.  One  branch  of  the  gens 
Sempronia,  the  Atratini,  are  patricians;  another  branch,  the  Gracchi,  are  plebeians.  The  e.x- 
planation  of  this  peculiarity,  which  occurs  too  often  to  be  due  to  an  error  on  the  part  of  Livy, 
may  perhaps  be  found  in  the  supposition  that,  out  of  regard  for  [traditional]  numbers  (see 
p.  189),  there  remained  outside  the  original  Senate  certain  families  who  were  yet  held  in  as  high 
consideration  as  those  whose  cliiefs,  having  become  senators,  conferred  on  their  descendants  the 
name  of  patricians.  In  that  case  the  Curiae  must  have  comprised  families  which  had  theausjnces, 
all  the  rights  of  the  sovereign  class  of  citizens,  and  admission  to  office,  without  being  patrician, 
and  yet  not  plebeian.  When  two  orders  only  came  to  be  recognized  in  the  city,  some  of 
these  families  re-entered  the  aristocratical  body ;  others  must  have  been  thrown  back  upon  the 
people,  whose  strength  they  constituted.  Members  of  these  uncertain  families  may  have  even 
been  placed  by  the  censors  on  the  list  of  the  Senate.  Tliis  would  explain  the  phrase  of  Livy 
(v.  1 2)  about  the  plebeian  Licinius  Calvus,  before  the  year  36  7  b.  c. :  vir  nuUis  ante  lionorihus  usus, 
lyelus  iantum  senator.  Dionys.  (Frag,  xlvi.)  asserts  that  it  was  through  fear  of  tribunitian  accusa- 
tions (see  p.  164)  that  some  patricians  had  caused  themselves  to  be  inscribed  among  the  plebeians. 
The  reason  is  a  poor  one ;  for  an  adoption  was  necessary  in  order  to  change  one's  family,  and 
in  that  case  the  person  adopted  took  the  name  of  the  adoj)ter.  Whatever  explanation  is 
accepted,  however,  this  much  is  certain,  and  we  only  insist  on  this  important  point,  that  there 
were,  either  between  patricians  and  people,  or  at  the  head  of  the  people,  noble  and  wealthy 
families  interested   in  overthrowing  the  distinction  between  the  two  orders. 


INTERNAL   HISTORY   FROM   509   TO   470.  277 

had  obtained  the  enforcement  of  the  constitution  of  Servius. 
Hereafter  they  will  extort  further  concessions ;  for  Etruria  is 
arming  in  the  King's  cause,  and  behind  the  Veientines  and 
Tarquinians  may  be  already  seen  the  preparations  of  Porsenna. 
A  common  misfortune  may  bring  the  two  orders  nearer  by 
humbling  the  military  pride  of  the  nobles. 

Aristocracies  die  out  when  they  are  not  renewed,  especially 
in  military  republics,  where  the  nobles  are  found  in  the  first 
ranks  of  battle,  and  pay  for  their  privileges  with  their  blood. 
Decimated  by  warfare  and  by  that  mysterious  law  of  development 
in  the  human  species  which  causes  the  extinction  of  old  families,  ^ 
every  aristocracy  which  does  not  receive  recruits  from  without 
its  pale  is  soon  exhausted  and  destroyed  by  the  action  of  time 
alone.  The  9,000  Spartans  of  Lycurgus  were  no  longer  more 
than  5,000  at  Plataea,  fewer  still  at  Leuctra  and  at  Sellasia. 
But  the  nobility  of  Rome  never  closed  its  "  golden  book." 
Under  Tullus  the  great  families  of  Alba,  under  Tarquin  a  hun- 
dred new  members,  had  lieen  admitted  to  the  Senate.  After  the 
abolition  of  royalty,  the  fathers  felt  the  need  of  strengthening 
themselves  by  drawing  towards  them  all  the  men  of 
consideration  in  the  city  to  whom  the  Curia  had  hitherto 
been  closed.^  Brutus  or  Valerius  restored  the  Senate 
to  the  usual  niimber  of  300  members,  as  it  had  been 
deprived  of  many  by  the  cruelty  of  Tarqum  and  the  ^^^^^ 
exile  of  his  partisans.^     At  the  same  time  the  Senate         sentixg 

BRUTUS.* 

distributed  among  the  people   the  lands  of  the  royal 

domain,  abolished  cvistoms,  and  lowered  the  price,  of  salt,^  —  a  clever 

*  The  pestilences  so  frequent  at  Rome  also  contributed  to  the  extinction  of  families.  After 
the  plague  of  462  B.  C,  which  carried  off  both  the  consuls,  several  patrician  families  disappear. 
After  that  epoch  there  is  no  mention  of  the  Lartii,  Cominii,  and  Numicii,  and  we  no  longer, 
or  only  rarely,  meet  with  patricians  of  the  name  of  TuUius,  Sicinius,  Volumnius,  Aebutius, 
Herminius,  Lucretius,  and  Mcnenius. 

'^  I  cannot  possibly  admit  the  strange  theory,  originating  in  Germany,  of  the  constitution, 
after  the  year  509,  of  a  plebeio-patrician  Senate.  The  whole  internal  history  of  Rome  up  to 
367  B.  c.  protests  against  this  supposition. 

^  The  exiles  were  so  numerous  that  they  fought  in  separate  bodies.  (Dionys.,  v.  0.)  A 
passage  in  Cicero  (de  Rep.  i.  40)  shows  that  there  was  a  violent  reaction  against  the  friends 
of  tlie  last  King. 

*  Denarius  of  the  Junian  family. 

*  Livy,  ii.  9.  For  these  proceedings  Brutus  had  re-established,  or  caused  to  be  confirmed 
by  the  Curiae,  the  quaestors  established  by  the  kings.  (Tac.,  Ann.  xi.  22.)  Plutarch  refers 
their  creation  to  Valerius. 


278 


EOME    UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 


move  in  two  ways,  for  by  satisfying  the  ambition  of  the  chiefs,  it 
separated  them  from  the  masses,  which  remained  without  leaders, 
while  at  the  same  time  it  interested  the  latter,  by  increasing  their 
material  welfare,  in  the  cause  of  the  nobles. 

To  the  first  year  of  the  Republic,  too,  are  said  to  belong  the 
laws  of  Valerius,  who,  being  left  sole  consul  for  some  time  after  the 

death  of  Brutus,  exercised  a  kind 
of  dictatorship,  and  made  use  of  it 
to  pass  laws  which  the  intercessio  of 
a  colleague  would  perhaps  have  pre- 
vented. These  laws  punished  with 
death  whosoever  should  aspire  to 
r»yalty,  and  authorized  disobedience 
to  a  magistrate  who  should  con- 
tinue his  office  beyond  the  ap- 
pointed term.  He  caused  the  fasces 
to  be  lowered  before  the  popular 
assembly,  and  recognized  its  sover- 
eign jurisdiction  by  carrying  the 
law  of  appeal  (provocatio),^  which 
was  to  Rome  what  the  habeas  corjms 
has  been  to  England.  In  order  to 
show  clearly  that  the  power  of  life 
and  death  was  taken  away  from 
the  consuls,  he  took  the  axes  out 
of  the  fasces  within  the  city  and 
within  a  mile  of  its  walls.  Beyond 
that  they  were  restored  to  the  lictors,  for  the  consuls  on  passing 
the     first    milestone^    recovered  that    unlimited    power   which   was 

1  Neque enim])roi-ocationem  longiusesse  ah  urlie  miUejmssutim.  (Livy,  iii.  20.)  "  Thiswas," 
says  Cicero  (de  Rep.  ii.  31),  "  the  first  law  voted  by  the  centuries."  The  appeal  forbade  eum 
qui  provocasset  virgis  caedi  securique  necari.  (Livy,  x.  9.)  Compare  Val.  Max.,  iv.  1,  and  Cic, 
de  Rep.  ii.  31.  Dionysius  (v.  19)  extends  the  prohibition  to  fines.  But  if  this  occurred,  it 
could  only  be  after  the  decemvirate.  There  is  attributed  to  Valerius,  too,  a  law  which  would 
throw  open  the  candidature  for  the  consulship.  'YTrnTeiai'  cfirnxf  fitTuvm  koi  irapayyiWdv  tois 
/3ovXn^eVoir.  (Plut.,  Popl.  ii.)  It  is,  of  course,  understood  that  this  refers  only  to  jiatricians  who 
might  demand  of  the  Senate  or  consuls  to  be  inscribed  on  the  list  of  candidates. 

^  The  value  of  the  Roman  mile  is  about  1G15  yards  (1481.75  metres).  Upon  the  roads  which 
issued  from  Rome,  each  mile  was  marked  by  a  numbered  post,  and  the  distances  counted  from  the 
gate  of  the  circuit  wall  of  Servius.  Tlie  post  represented  by  the  engraving,  after  a  restoration 
of  Canina,  was  the  first  upon  the  Appian  Way.     It  is  much  later  in  date  than  our  present  epoch, 


•  I?- 

A    MILESTONE. 


INTEENAL   HISTORY   FROM  509  TO  470.  279 

as   necessary   to   tliem    in   the   army   as   it   was   dangerous   in   the 
city. 

Thus  the  patricians  and  the  plebeians  remained  two  distinct 
orders,  widely  separated  by  the  inequality  of  their  condition:  the 
one,  descendants  of  the  early  conquerors  and  guardians  of  the 
ancient  worship;  the  other,  a  mixed  mass  of  men  of  all  kinds  of 
origins  and  religions,  long  kept  in  subjection  by  the  ruling  people, 
the  Quirites,  and  still  placed,  as  having  neither  the  same  blood  nor 
the  same  gods,  under  the  insulting  prohibition  against  inter- 
marriage with  patricians.  Fortunately  the  assembly  of  centuries 
united  them  in  a  single  people,  and  this  union  saved  them.  At 
first,  it  is  true,  it  benefited  only  the  patricians,  who  appropriated 
the  lion's  share  of  the  royal  spoils.  But  the  plebeians  little  by 
little  forced  them  to  an  equitable  division.  The  establishment  of 
the  tribuneship  was  their  first  and  surest  victory;  for  before  at- 
tacking they  must  learn  how  to  defend  themselves. 


II.   The  Tribunate. 

At  Rome,  as  at  Athens,  and  in  all  the  states  of  antiquity 
wherein  handicrafts  did  not  support  the  poor  people  of  free  con- 
dition, debts  were  the  primary  cause  of  democratic  revolutions. 
Rome,  being  an  exclusively  agricultural  state,  would  have  needed, 
in  order  to  profit  by  the  advantages  of  that  condition,  a  long  period 
of  peace  or  a  vast  territory,  which  might  save  the  greater  portion 
of  the  land  from  undergoing  the  ravages  of  war.  Now  warfare 
was  constant,  and  after  the  conquest  of  Porsenna  and  the  rising 
of  the  Latins,  the  frontier  was  so  near  the  town,  that  the  lands  of 
the  enemy  might  be  seen  from  the  top  of  the  walls.''  There  was, 
then,  neither  repose  nor  safety  to  be  had ;  whence  it  resulted  that 
everywhere  there  was  crowding  and  bad  husbandry.  Called  to 
arms  every  year,  the  plebeian   neglected   his  little  farm ;   moreover 

as  it  bears  the  names  of  Vespasian  and  of  Xerva.  Tlie  use  of  these  posts  must  be  much  more 
ancient  than  Gracchus,  who  is  supposed  to  have  estabUshed  them.  (PUit.,  C.  Gmcc.  G-7.) 
The  post  was  at  first  a  rough-hewn  stone,  which,  by  degrees,  in  the  vicinity  of  Kome  and 
large  towns,  assumed  the  shape  of  a  monument. 

1  For  the  mihtary  history  of  this  epoch,  see  ne.xt  chapter. 


280        '  ROME   UNDER  THE  PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

he  must  eqiiip  himself  at  his  own  expense,  provide  his  own  food 
in  war  time,  and  yet  pay  the  tax,  which  was  relatively  heavier  for 
the  poor  than  the  rich,  because,  being  based  upon  landed  property, 
it  did  not  allow  for  the  debts  of  the  one  class  or  the  credit  of 
the  other.  But  if  the  war  was  not  successful;  if  the  enemy,  who 
could  in  a  single  day  traverse  the  whole  territory  of  the  Republic, 
came  and  cut  down  the  crops  and  burned  the  farms ;  if  to  the 
pillage  of  the  people  of  Latium  and  the  Sabine  land  there  were 
added  inclemency  of  weather,  —  how  was  the  farmer  to  support  his 
family  or  rebuild  his  burned  home  ? 

There  were  means  of  coming  to  some  understanding  with  the 
gods.  A  temple  was  promised,  it  might  be  to  some  foreign  deity 
whom  they  felt  guilty  of  having  neglected ;  or  they  offered  a 
sacrifice,  and  thought  they  had  set  themselves  right  with  the 
celestial  powers.  Thus,  a  famine  having  broken  out  during  the 
Latin  war,  the  dictator  Postumius  promised  a  sanctuary  to  a 
Greek  divinity,  Demeter,  who  caused  the  fruitfulness  of  the 
Campanian  plains,  whence  the  Senate,  no  doubt,  procured  corn.  She 
took,  on  the  banks  of  Tiber,  the  name  of  an  old  Etruscan  deity, 
Ceres  ;  ^  and  to  minister  at  her  altar  a  woman  was  summoned  from 
Naples  or  Velia,  who  on  her  arrival  received  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship, because  a  Roman  tongue  only  could  invoke  the  gods  in  favor 
of  Rome. 

The  usurer's  account  was  a  more  difficult  matter  to  settle. 
All  the  hard-earned  savings  went  fii'st,  then  the  booty  won  in  pre- 
vious campaigns,  and  finally  the  hereditary  patrimony,  —  the  last 
pledge  on  which  the  poor  man  had  raised  a  loan  at  an  enormous 
rate  of  interest.  Thus  a  great  number  of  plebeians  had,  within 
a  few  years  after  the  expulsion  of  the  kings,  become  the  debtors 
of  the  wealthy,  like  their  descendants,  the  peasants  of  the  Roman 
Campagna,  who,  ruined  by  usury  and  monopolies,  sell  their  crops 
before  they  have  been  sown.  But  the  wealthy  were  to  be  found 
especially  among  the  patricians.  Being  possessed  of  vast  estates, 
and  holding  the  lands  of  the  public  domain,  which,  as  it  was  usually 
left  for  pasturage,  had  little  to  fear  from  the  enemy's  ravages, 
they  could  still  export  to  foreign  countries  the  wool  of  their  flocks 

1  Servius,  ad  Aen.  ii.  325.     The  name  Ceres  has  no  meaning  in  Latin. 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  FROM  509  TO  470. 


281 


and  the  produce  of  their  land.  Their  fortune  was  less  dependent 
on  a  bad  season  or  a  hostile  incursion.  Thus  they  always  had 
money  for  that  lucrative  business^  which  brought  in  more  than 
the  best  land  or  the  most  dogged  work.  At  Rome,  as  at  Athens 
before  the  time  of  Solon, 
and  as  in  all  the  ancient 
states  of  Asia  and  the 
North,  the  law  assigned 
to  the  creditor  the  liberty 
and  life  of  the  debtor ;  it 
was  a  pledge,  a  mort- 
gage held  on  his  person. 
If  the  debtor  did  not  ful- 
fil his  obligations  within 
the  legal  period,  he  be- 
came nexus,^  that  is  to 
saj^,  he  bound  his  person 
to  pay  his  debt  by  labor. 
He  was  not  a  slave ;  but 
his  creditor  could  impose 
servile  duties  upon  him, 
and  even  keep  him  im- 
prisoned in  the  ergastu- 
lum.  His  children,  unless 
he  had  previously  eman- 
cipated them,  shared  his 
fate,  for  they  were  his 
property;  and  his  prop- 
erty, like  his  person, 
belonged  to  his  creditors 
imtil  he  had  freed  himself  from  his   debt. 

It  was  not  necessary  that  many  plebeians  should  find  them- 
selves under    the    action  of   this  severe  law,  to  cause  a  widespread 

*  Usury  was  a  national  vice  at  Rome.  Polybius  knew  this  so  well,  that  he  honors 
Scipio  for  not  having  been  guilty  of  it  (xxxii.  fr.  8).  We  know  that  Cato  the  Censor 
carried  on  the  most  disreputable  form  of  it,  — maritime  usury ;  and  we  see  in  Plutarch  the 
parsimony  of  Crassus,  notwithstanding  his  immense  fortune. 

^  See  page  31.  The  ncnun  was  tlie  verbal  agreement  undertaken  by  the  creditor,  in  the 
presence  of  witnesses,  to  p.ay  back  the  loan. 


CEKES    rOUND   AT   OSTIA     IN   1856. 
VATICAN.) 


(museum  of  the 


282  KOME   UNDER   THE   PATPvICIAN   CONSULS. 

irritation ;  its  very  existence  was  sufficient.  The  people  soon  saw- 
that  the  revolution  had  merely  substituted  patrician  for  royal 
authority ;  and  they  conceived  a  violent  hatred  for  these  haughty 
masters,  who  treated  them  with  the  violence  they  themselves  had 
suffered  at  the  King's  hands.^  At  first  they  peaceably  demanded 
the  abolition  of  debts ;  then  they  refused  to  obey  the  conscription 
for  service  against  the  Latins.  The  situation  seemed  so  critical  to 
the  Senate  that  they  revived  royalty  with  all  its  power  for  a  time. 
Tn  501  B.  c.  they  created  the  dictatorship,  the  powers  of  which 
were  unlimited.  Elected,  on  the  invitation  of  the  Senate,  by 
one  of  the  consuls,  and  chosen  from  among  the  consulares,  the 
dictator  (magister  populi)^  had,  even  in  Rome,  twenty-four  lictors 
bearing  the  axes  in  the  fasces,  as  a  sign  of  absolute  authority. 
The  ordinary  magistrates  were  under  his  orders,  and  the  right  of 
appeal  to  the  people  was  suspended  ;  it  was  like  our  declaration 
of  martial  law.  He  was  nominated  for  six  months,  like  his 
lieutenant,  the  magister  equitum,  but  none  ever  retained  these 
formidable  powers  so  long.  So  soon  as  the  danger  had  passed 
which  had  caused  the  suspension  of  jDublic  liberty  and  the 
legal  establishment  of  this  provisional  tyranny,  the  dictator 
abdicated.^  The  Senate  had  thus  reserved  an  extraordinary 
magistracy  for  those  critical  times  from  which  states  often  emerge 
only  at  the  cost  of  their  liberty.  More  than  once,  indeed,  did 
the  dictatorshijj  save  the  Republic  from  the  enemy  without  and 
from  the  agitations  of  the  Forum  within.  If  for  nearly  three 
centuries  Rome   never  felt  the  stormy  vicissitudes  of  the  Hellenic 

^  Propter  nimiam  dominatlonem  potcntimn.  (Cic,  pro  Corn.  fr.  24.)  Sallust  speaks  simi- 
larly.      (Hist.  frag.  i.  21.) 

^  Lars,  in  Etruscan,  means  lord  and  master.  (Plutarcb,  Quaest.  Rom.  51.)  The  expression 
magister  populi  has  the  same  meaning,  and  the  dictatorship  was  probably  an  imitation  of 
what  took  ])laee  in  Etruria  when,  in  grave  circumstances,  she  appointed  a  lars,  like  Porsenna 
or  Tolumnius. 

^  Varro,  de  Ling.  Lat.  v.  82  ;  Fest,  s.  v.  optima  lex.  A  tradition,  reported  by  Livy, 
would  assign  another  cause  for  the  creation  of  this  magistracy,  —  that  the  two  consuls  were 
partisans  of  the  King.  The  Greeks  translated  the  word  dictator  by  jiovapxns  and  avroKparutp. 
Zonaras  (vii.  13)  says:  ttjv  5'  ck  ttjs  povap-j(ias  o)<p€\fLav  OeXom-fs  .  .  .  fV  (YXXco  ravrrjv  ovopari 
erXowo.  Machiavelli  made  the  following  remark,  which  is  confirmed  by  Montesquieu  (Esp. 
des  Lois,  ii.  3  :  )  "  Without  a  power  of  this  nature,  the  state  must  either  be  lost  in  following 
the  ordinary  lines  of  proceeding,  or  else  quit  them,  in  order  to  save  itself.  But  if  extra- 
ordinary means  do  good  for  the  moment,  they  leave  a  bad  example,  which  is  a  real  evil."  The 
dictatorships  of  SuUa  and  Caesar  have,  of  course,  nothing  in  common  with  the  ancient 
dictatorship. 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  FROM  509  TO  470.  283 

republics  ;  if  tliose  movements,  which  otherwise  would  have  de- 
generated into  revolutions,  only  resulted  at  Rome  in  the  regular 
development  of  the  constitution,  —  it  was  owing  in  a  great  meas- 
ure to  this  office,  this  unlimited  power  of  which  moderated  the 
public  excitement,  while  at  the  same  time  it  arrested  ambitious 
designs. 

Startled  by  these  menacing  displays,  by  this  unlimited  power, 
the  plelDs  stifled  its  murmurs  for  some  years,  and  the  con.suls 
were  able  to  count  on  its  support  in  the  regal  wars.  But  in 
495  B.  c,  Appius  Claudius,  the  most  pitiless  of  patricians,  was 
appointed  consul  with  Servilius.  His  pride,  which  chafed  even 
at  a  complaint,  was  already  exciting  sullen  anger,  when  a  man 
suddenly  appeared  in  the  Forum,  pale  and  fearfully  emaciated. 
He  was  one  of  the  bravest  centurions  of  the  Roman  army ;  he 
had  been  in  twenty-eight  battles.  He  told  how,  in  the  Sabine 
war,  the  enemy  had  burned  his  house  and  his  crops,  and  carried 
off  his  flock.  In  order  to  live  he  had  borrowed  money,  and 
usury,  like  an  odious  sore,  devouring  his  patrimony,  had  even 
invaded  his  body.  His  creditors  had  led  away  himself  and  his 
son,  loaded  with  irons  and  lacerated  with  blows ;  and  he  showed 
his  body  stUl  bleeding.  At  this  sight  the  public  fury  knew 
no  bounds,  and  a  messenger  having  come  to  announce  an  incur- 
sion of  the  Volscians,  the  plebeians  refused  to  take  arms.  "  Let 
the  patricians  go  and  fight,"  said  they ;  "  let  them  have  all  the 
perils  of  war,  since  they  have  all  its  profits !  "  They  only  yielded 
when  the  consul  Servilius  had  promised  that  after  the  war 
their  complaints  should  be  examined,  and  that_  all  the  time  it 
lasted,  debtors  should  be  free.  On  this  assurance  the  people 
took  arms.  Before  this,  the  Volscians  had  given  three  hundred 
hostages ;  Appius  had  them  all  beheaded.  Then  Servilius  marched 
on  Suessa  Pometia,  which  was  taken,  and  the  booty  distributed 
among  his  soldiers.  But  when  the  victorious  army  returned  to 
Rome,  the  Senate  refused  to  fulfil  the  consul's  promises.  The 
poor  found  themselves  again  at  the  mercy  of  the  pitiless  Appius, 
and  the  ergastula  were  filled  anew.  In  vain  the  people  exclaimed 
loudly  against  it;  Appius  was  inflexible.  In  order  to  frighten  the 
multitude,  he  caused  a  dictator  to  be  appointed.  The  choice  fell 
upon  a  man  of  a  popular  family,  Manlius  Valerius,  who  renewed 


284 


EOME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 


the  pledges  of  Servilius,  and  with  an  army  of  40,000  plebeians 
defeated  the  Volscians,  Aequians,  and  Sabines.  The  people  thought 
that  they  had  this  time  secured  the  execution  of  the  consular 
promises  ;  again  they  were  deceived.  A  few  poor  men  only,  it  is 
said,  were  sent  as  colonists  to  Velitrae.  The  indignant  Valerius 
resigned,  callhig  to  witness  Fidius,  the  god  of  pledged  faith,  which 
had  been  broken. 


BRIDGE    OF    NOMENTUM. 


To  avert  a  revolt  in  the  Forum,  the  consuls  of 
the  year  493,  availing  themselves  of  the  military  oath 
taken  to  their  predecessors,  forced  the  army  to  go  out 
of  the  city.  But  outside  the  gates  the  plebeians 
abandoned  the  consuls,  and  crossing  the  Anio,  probably 
at  the  spot  where  the  bridge  of  Nomentum  was  built, 
they  marched,  under  the  leadership  of  Sicinius  Bellutus  and  Junius 
Brutus,    to    the    Sacred    Mount,^    and    encamped    there ;     those    of 


ANNA  PERENNA.' 


1  C.  ANNI.  T.  F.  T.  N.,  that  is,  C.  Annius,  son  of  Titus,  grandson  of  Titus  Annius. 
Head  with  a  diadem,  attributed  by  Cavedoni  to  Anna  Perenna :  to  the  right,  a  caduceus ;  on 
the  left,  a  pair  of  scales.     Silver  coin  of  the  Annian  family. 

^  The  mrms  sacer  is  an  elongated  hill,  separated  from  the  Anio  by  a  meadow,  in  which 
there  still  exists  the  ancient  bridge,  surmounted  by  a  pontifical  building  of  the  fifteenth 
century.      (See  cut.) 


INTERNAL   HISTORY   FROM   50'J   TO    170.  285 

Kome  -witlidrew  at  the  same  time  with  their  families  to  the 
Aventiue.^  Tradition  had  it  that  an  old  woman  of  Bovillae  brought 
them  every  morning  smoking  hot  cakes,  which  she  had  sat 
up  all  night  to  bake  :  it  was  the  Goddess  Anna  Perenna.^  Under 
this  legend  lies  hidden  a  remembrance  of  the  assistance  given 
to  the  plebeians  by  the  neighboring  cities. 

Some  time  passed  in  delay  and  in  fruitless  negotiations.  At 
last  the  patricians,  frightened  by  the  menacing  position  of  the 
legions,  nominated  two  consuls,  friends  of  the  people,  and  sent 
ten  consulars  as  a  deputation  to  the  soldiers.  Among  them  were 
three  former  dictators,  also  Lartins  Postumius,  Valerius,  and  the 
plebeian  Menenius  Agrippa,  the  most  eloquent  and  popular  of  the 
senators.  He  told  them  the  fable  of  the  belly  and  the  members, 
and  brought  back  their  demands  to  the  Senate.  They  were  re- 
markably moderate.  All  slaves  for  debt  were  to  be  set  free ; 
the  debts  themselves,  at  least  those  of  insolvent  debtors,  to  be 
cancelled.^  They  did  not  even  demand  that  the  criminal  law 
should  be  altered ;  fifty  years  later,  we  shall  find  it  still  in- 
scribed by  the  decemvirs  on  the  Twelve  Tables.  But  they  would 
not  consent  to  come  down  from  the  Sacred  ]\Iount  until  they  had 
nominated  two  tribunes,  Sicinius  and  Brutus,  whose  right  the 
Senate  should  recognize  of  assisting  the  harshly  used*  debtor,  and 
of  staying  by  their  veto  the  effect  of  the  consular  judgments. 
In  this  way  those  Romans  who  remained  without  patrician  pro- 
tection, and  had  no  one  to  defend  them,  would  henceforth  have  two 
official  patrons  with  whom  it  would  be  necessaiy  to  reckon.^ 

These  representatives  of  the  poor  had  neither  the  laticlave 
with  a  border  of  purple,  nor  lictors  armed  with  fasces.  No  ex- 
ternal mark  distinguished  them  from  the  crowd,  and  they  were 
preceded  by  a  single  apparitor  in  plain  dress.  But,  as  fetials  in 
an  enemy's  territory,  their  person  was  inviolable.     They  devoted  to 

*  Cic,  de  Rep.,  ii.  37  ;  Livy,  ii.  32  ;  App.,  Bell.   Civ.  i.  1. 
-  Ovid,  Fast.  iii.  654. 

«  Dionys.,  vi.  83. 

*  At  first  tlie  tribune  could  only  protect  the  plebeian  who  had  been  insulted  or  struck  in 
his  presence. 

'  Zon.,  vii.  15  :  Trpoo-raT-ar  hvo ;  and  Livy,  ii.  33  ;  iii.  55.  The  tribunes  were  not  al- 
lowedj  except  during  the  Latin  games,  to  be  away  from  Rome  at  night,  and  their  door  always 
remained  open.  Their  power  ended  one  mile  from  the  walls,  where  the  imperium  of  the 
consuls  began. 


286  EOME   UNDER  THE  PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

the  gods  any  one  who  struck  them,  by  saying  sacer  esto,^  and  his 
goods  were  confiscated  to  the  profit  of  the  temple  of  Ceres.  No 
patrician  could  become  a  tribune  (493  b.  c). 

By  this  creation  of  two  leaders  of  the  people  (soon  after- 
ward five,  still  later  ten)  the  revolt,  purely  civil,  if  I  may  so 
term  it,  in  principle  became  almost  a  revolution,  and  turned  out 
to  be  the  greatest  event  in  the  domestic  history  of  Rome.  "  It 
was,"  says  Cicero,^  "  the  first  reduction  of  the  consular  power, 
in  constituting  a  magistrate  independent  of  it.  The  second  was 
the  help  which  it  afforded  to  the  other  naagistrates,  as  well  as  to 
the  citizens  who  refused  obedience  to  the  consuls." 

The  rich  plebeians  adopted  the  chiefs  of  the  poor  as  being 
those  of  the  entire  order.  Thus  supported,  this  protective  power 
soon  became  aggressive  ;  and  we  shall  see  the  tribunes,  on  the  one 
hand,  extending  their  veto  to  all  acts  contrary  to  popular  interests,* 
and  on  the  other  politically  organizing  the  people,  outside  the 
auctoritas  j9a<r?<w,  and  causing  the  concilia  plebis  to  assert  as 
their  own  the  rights  of  deliberating,  voting,  and  electing.  Later 
on,  we  shall  see  them  effacing  the  distinction  between  the  orders 
by  proclaiming  the  principle  that  the  sovereignty  resides  in  the 
whole  people  ;  and  then  will  come  the  time  when  no  one  is  so 
powerful  in  Rome  as  a  tribune  of  the  people.  This  power 
doubtless  committed  many  excesses.  But  without  it,  the  Republic, 
in  subjection  to  an  oppressive  oligarchy,  would  never  have  ful- 
filled its  great  destinies.  "  Rome  ought  either  to  have  continued 
a  monarchy,"  said  even  Cicero,*  who  had  m,uch  personal  ground 
for  complaint  against  the  tribunate,  "  or  there  was  no  need  to  grant 
the  plebeians  a  liberty  which  was  not  made  up  of  mere  empty 
words."  This  liberty  now  begins  for  them,  since  there  is  no 
freedom  apart  from  strength,  and  there  is  no  strength  in  societies 
except  in  discipline.  Disciplined  by  its  new  chiefs,  the  people 
were  soon  able  to  maintain  a  regular    struggle    against   the    great, 

'  Zon.  (ibid.)  explains  this  expression,  which  occurs  so  often  in  legislation.  The  victim, 
led  to  the  altar  as  a  sacrifice,  was  devoted,  i.  c.  given  up  to  death ;  so  also  the  man  declared  sacer. 

■  De  Leg.  iii.  7.  The  question  how  the  tribunes  were  nominated  between  the  years  493 
and  471  is  very  obscure.  I  do  not  doubt,  however,  that  it  had  been  from  the  first  reserved  to 
the  concilium  plebis.     See  p.  295. 

'  Val.  irax.,  ii.  7  ;  Dionys.,  x.  2. 

*  De  Lecj.  iii.  10;  .  .  .   re  non  verba. 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  FROM  509  TO  470. 


287 


and  obtain,  one  after  the  other,  all  the  magisterial  offices.  The 
patrician  city,  forced  to  receive  them,  will  be  opened  to  the 
Italians  also  ;  later  on  to  the  world  ;  and  a  great  empire  will  be 
the  recompense  of  this  union,  demanded  and  secured  by  the 
tribunes.^ 

It  was  with  the  most  solemn  ceremonies,  by  sacrifices  and 
the  ministry  of  the  fetials,  as  if  the  matter  in  hand  were  a 
treaty  between  two  different  peoples,  that  the  peace  was  concluded 
and  celebrated.  Every  citizen  swore  to  keep  eternally  the  sacred 
laws,  leges  sacratae^  and   an  altar,  erected   to  Jupiter  Tonans   on 


B,    LEFT    SIDE. 


A,     ALTAR    OF    THE    TEMPLE,    THOUGnT    TO 
BE    TUAT    OF    QUIRINUS,    AT    POMPEII.^ 


C,    RIGHT    SIDE. 


the  site  of  the  plebeian  camp,  consecrated  the  mountain  where 
the  people  had  acquired  their  earliest  liberties.  Public  veneration 
surrounded,  to  the  day  of  his  death,  the  man  who  had  reconciled 
the  two  orders,  and  when  Agrippa  died  the  people  gave  him, 
as  well  as  Brutus  and  Poplicola,  a  splendid  funeral. 

As  the  consuls  had  two  quaestors,  so  the  tribunes  had  under 
them,  to  guard  the  material  interests  of  the  plebeian  community, 
two  aediles,  whose  rights  increased,  as  did  those  of  the  tribunes, 
and  who  finally  had  the  care  of  all  public  buildings  {aedes),  espe- 
cially that  of  the  temple  of  Ceres,  where  were  kept  the  senatus- 


'  On  tlie  successive  additions  to  tbe  tribunes'  power,  see  Zonaras,  vii.  15. 

^  Livy,  ii.  33;  Dionys.,  vi.  89. 

'  The  altar  of  Jlons  Sacer  was  certainly  very  simple  and  unornamented,  whilst  that  we 
give  is  much  ornamented.  It  shows,  at  any  rate,  the  general  form  of  Roman  altars,  and  how 
religious  art  decorated  them.  On  one  of  its  sides  (Fig.  a)  is  to  be  seen  a  sacrificial  ceremony ; 
on  the  other  sides  (Figs.  B,  c)  are  grouped  different  articles  used  in  worship,  —  the  Uluus  o: 
augur's  staff,  the  box  for  [JCrfumes,  etc. 


288   '  EOME   UNDER   THE   PATEICIAN   CONSULS. 

consulta,  and  the  rigtt  of  controlling  tlie  supply  of  Rome  with 
provisions.^  In  the  second  century  B.  c.  the  aedileship  was,  ac- 
cording to  Polybius,  a  very  illustrious  office,^  and  Cicero  calls  the 
great  Architect  of  the  world  the  Aeclile  of  the   Universe. 

It  is  certain  that  the  plebeians  had  already  their  own  special 
judges,  judices  decemviri,  and  their  public  assembly,  concilium  jjlehis ; 
the  patricians  were  naturally  excluded  from  them,  or,  to  speak 
more  exactly,  did  not  condescend  to  enter  them.^ 

"We  shall  close  with  two  remarks  :  the  tribunate  is  the  most 
original  .  of  Roman  institutions,  for  nothing  like  it  has  existed 
either  among  ancients  or  moderns  ;  and  the  revolution  whence  it 
proceeded  did  not  cost  one  drop  of  human  blood. 


ni.   The  Agrarian  Law. 

The  beginnmgs  of  the  tribunate  were  humble  and  obscure,  like 
those  of  all  the  jilebeian  magistracies.*  But  a  patrician  who  had 
been  consul  and  celebrated  a  triumph  three  times  —  Spurius  Cassius 
—  revealed  to  the  tribunes  the  secret  of  their  power,  viz.  popular 

1  Dionys.,  vi.  90. 

2  Polyb.,  X.  4. 

^  Livy,  iii.  55,  and  ii.  56,  GO;  Dionys.,  ix.  41. 

*  To  fill  up  the  interval  void  of  acts  which  intervenes  between  the  years  493  B.  c.  and 
486  B.  c,  there  are  usually  placed,  immediately  after  the  establishment  of  the  tribunate,  the 
trial  of  Coriolanus  and  the  disputes  of  the  tribunes  with  the  consuls  respecting  the  colonies 
of  Norba  and  Velitrae,  —  that  is  to  say,  the  conquest  for  the  tribunes  of  the  right  of  speaking 
before  the  people  without  intcrrujition,  of  convoking  the  comitia  of  tribes,  of  declaring 
plebiscita,  of  judging  and  condemning  to  death  patricians.  Thus  we  fail  to  recognize  the 
humble  beginnings  of  this  magistracy,  which  in  the  first  year  of  its  e.xistence  was  certainly 
not  strong  enough  to  brave  the  Senate,  the  patricians,  and  the  consuls.  Besides  this  con- 
sider.ation  many  circumstances  in  the  story  are  actually  false.  Thus  Norba  and  Velitrae 
were  not  then  Roman  colonies,  but  independent  Latin  cities,  as  the  treaty  of  Cassius  with 
the  Latins  proves  ;  Corioli  was  not  a  Volscian  city  taken  by  the  Romans,  but  one  of  the 
thirty  Latin  republics.  Tlien  Coriolanus  is  said  to  have  borne  when  very  young  his  first 
arms  at  the  battle  of  Lake  Regillus,  in  496  b.  c,  and  in  492  B.  c.  he  demands  the  consulship 
and  is  f.ather  of  several  cliildren.  The  tradition  of  Coriolanus  has  no  doubt  a  historical  basis ; 
but  this  proscription  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  patricians,  this  vengeance  of  a  cliief 
among  the  banished,  ought  to  belong  to  the  epoch  which  saw  the  condemnation  of  Menenius 
and  A])pius,  the  exile  of  Caeso,  and  the  attempt  of  Herdonius.  Niebuhr  also  believes  the 
Icilian  law  to  be  posterior  to  that  of  Volero,  and  Hooke  had  previously  proved  it.  It 
was,  in  truth,  a  plebiscitum,  and  the  people  were  only  able  to  pass  it  after  the  adoption  of 
the  Publilian  law  in  470  B.  c.  Besides,  the  first  use  of  the  Icilian  law  was  made  only  in 
421  B.  c.  in  connection  with  Caeso  (liic  primus  varies  publico  dedit) ;  the  tribunes  would  thus 
have  remained  more  than  thirty  years  without  using  it. 


INTERNAL   HISTOKY   FROM   509   TO   470.  289 

agitation.  He  was  the  first  to  start  amongst  the  crowd  that 
grand  watchword,  "  the  agrarian  law ; "  and  the  tribunes  after 
him  had  only  to  pronounce  it  to  raise  in  the  Forum  tlie  most 
furious  storms.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  to  possess  land  was  to  take 
rank  among  nobles ;  at  Rome,  it  was  to  become  truly  a  citizen,  to 
have  true  riches,  such  as  alone  brought  honor,  possessed  endurance, 
and  the  only  kind  that  Rome,  without  industry  and  with  but  little 
trade,  could  know  and  respect.  Hence  the  importance  of  the 
agrarian  laws ;  for,  political  rights  being  in  proportion  to  fortune, 
to  diminish  that  of  some  and  increase  that  of  others  amounted,  in 
the  order  of  the  social  system,  to  raising  the  latter  and  bringing 
down  the  former.  By  touching  property  they  touched  also  the 
^'ery  constitution  of  the  state,  —  they  laid  a  hand  on  that  which 
religion  had  consecrated.  Of  course  the  upper  classes  repelled 
always,  by  either  force  or  deception,  those  laws  which  sought  to 
give    the    people,    at   their   expense,    a   little  fortune    and  power. 

The  agrarian  laws  did  not,  however,  attack  hereditary  patri- 
monies, ordinarily  of  small  extent,  but  property  usurped  from  the 
state,  and  which  could  be  recovered  in  its  name  from  the  dis- 
honest holder.  Like  the  territory  of  all  the  peoples  in  Italy  and 
Greece,  the  ager  Homanus  had  been  primitively  divided  into  equal 
parts  among  all  the  citizens ;  these  assigned  lands,  the  limits  of 
which  the  augurs  themselves  drew,  formed  the  inviolable  and 
hereditary  property  of  the  Quirites.  But  in  this  division  of  the 
soil  there  had  been  reserved  for  the  wants  of  the  state  a  certain 
extent  of  land,  generally  pasturage  and  forests,  which  continued 
to  be  the  common  domain,  the  ager  publieus,  and  on  which  every 
one  had  the  right  of  pasturing  his  flocks  (■pecus),  for  the  payment 
of  a  small  rent  (pecunia).  This  public  domain  grew  with  the 
conquests  made  by  Rome ;  for  by  the  right  of  war  all  conquered 
lands  belonged  to  the  conquerors,  who  generally  made  of  them 
a  twofold  division,  —  the  one,  restored  to  the  old  inhabitants  or  as- 
signed, as  property  of  the  Quirites,  to  particular  Roman  citizens 
(coloni) ;  the  second,  without  doubt  the  more  considerable,  attached 
to  the   public    domain. 

If  the  ager  j^'ublicus  had  continued  wholly  communal,  it  would 
have  yielded  but  a  slight  profit.  To  increase  its  value,  a  part  of  it 
was    enclosed;    and    the    state,    as    proprietor,    received   from   the 

VOL.    I.  19 


290      ■  ROME    UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

farmers  of  it  a  tenth  part  of  the  produce.  This  tithe  formed,  down 
to  the  time  of  the  Veian  war,  along  with  the  rent  for  pasturage,  the 
principal  revenue  of  the  city ;  hence  the  importance  of  all  questions 
relating  to  the  arjer  publicus.  But  the  farmers,  at  first,  were  all 
patricians,^  and  the  Senate,  forgetting  the  interests  of  the  state  in 
behalf  of  those  of  their  own  order,  neglected,  little  by  little,  to 
demand  the  tithes  and  rents.  This  was,  however,  the  mark  which 
distinguished  these  leaseholds,  and,  at  all  times,  revocable  possessions, 
from  full  quiritary  j)Ossession.  So,  on  this  mark  disappearing,  the 
farms  became  changed  into  freeholds,  and  the  state  lost  doubly,  by 
the  diminution  of  the  rents  paid  to  the  treasury  and  by  the  loss 
of  the  public  domain,  transformed  into  private  domains,^  without  the 
possessor  paying  for  these  usurped  lands  the  trihutum  ex  censu  which 
was  levied  on  all  quiritary  (freehold)  property. 

However,  ancient  jurisprudence  declared  that  there  was  never 
any  statute  of  limitation  against  the  state  ;^  which,  therefore, 'retained 
all  its  rights  over  these  usurped  domains,  and  was  able  to  resume 
them,  whoever  might  be  the  holder,  the  original  farmer,  his  heirs, 
or  any  one  who  had  bought  from  them  for  ready  money.  For,  in 
the  case  of  both  parties,  the  unjust  possessor  or  the  bona  fide 
purchaser,  it  was  nothing  else  than  a  property  held  without  title. 

During  the  monarchy,  agrarian  laws  had  been  frequent,  because 
it  was  the  interest  of  the  kings,  surrounded  l^y  a  jealous  aristocracy, 
to  keep  friends  with  the  partisans  of  the  people ;  but  since  the 
exile  of  Tarquin  there  had  been  no  other  assignment  than  that  of 
Brutus.  How  much  misery,  however,  had  not  the  plebeians  borne, 
during  those  twenty-four  years,  from  war  and  usury !  So  the  most 
illustrious  of  the  patricians,  the  only  one  of  this  epoch  who,  with 
Valerius,  had  been  three  times  decorated  with  the  consular  pui'ple, 


1  A  passage  of  Cassius  Ilemina,  in  Nonius  (ii.  s.  v.  Plehitas)  leads  to  the  belief  that 
plebeians  could  not  be  admitted  to  the  occupation  of  domain  land.  There  is  certainly 
reason  to  believe  in  the  principle  here  implied,  since  the  plebeians  were  considered  as  a 
foreign  people.  But  the  same  passage  proves  that  there  were  also  plebeians  liolders  of 
domain  land  :  Quicumque  propter  plebitatem  ar/ro  publico  ejecti  sunt ;  and  Sallust  {Hist.  frag.  1 1) 
savs  also,  tliat  some  time  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Tarquins,  they  were  driven  from  the  public 
lands,  agro  jiellere.     We  shall  see  Lucinius  Stolo  in  the  possession  of  700  acres. 

■■^  Cf.  Aggeuus  Urbicus,  de  Controv.  agror.,  ap.  Ges.,  Rei  agrariae  scriptores,  p.  69. 
Neqant  illud  solum,  quod  solum  populi  Romani  esse  caepit,  ullo  modo  usicapi  a  quoquam  mor- 
talium  posse. 

'  Cic,  de  Rep.  ii.  14. 


INTERNAL  HISTOEY  FROM  509  TO  470.  291 

Spiirius  Cassius,  desii-ed  to  restore  to  the  state  its  revenues  and 
lands,  and  to  give  the  poor  the  means  of  becoming  useful  citizens. 
He  proposed  to  divide  a  part  of  the  government  lands  amongst  the 
most  needy ;  to  compel  the  farmers  of  the  state  to  pay  tlieir  tithes 
regularly ;  and  to  use  this  revenue  in  paying  the  troops.'  If  these 
were  indeed  the  demands  of  Cassius,  we  know  not  how  to  rate 
too  highly  the  unrecognized  glory  of  this  great  citizen,  who  after 
having  consolidated  abroad  the  tottering  fortunes  of  Rome  by  his 
double  treaty  with  the  Latins  and  Hernicans,^  wished,  at  home,  to 
prevent  trouble  by  helping  the  poor,  and  who,  almost  a  century 
before  it  was  adopted,  had  proposed  the  important  measure  f(.)r  the 
settlement  of  the  soldiers'   pay  (486). 

But  these  popular  and  patriotic  demands  aroused  the  indignar 
tion  of  the  Senate.  The  usurpation  of  the  ager  piihlicus,  against 
which  Cassius  protested,  was  the  principal  source  of  patrician 
fortunes.  A  long  possession  seemed,  besides,  to  have  established  a 
right,  and  the  great  number  of  possessors  of  domain  land  no  longer 
distinguished  their  hereditary  estates  from  the  fields  which  they  kept 
from  the  state.  However,  it  would  have  been  dangerous,  at  a 
moment  when  the  people  saw  a  consul  at  their  head,  to  reject  the 
law :  the  Senate  accepted  it  without  seeing  it  carried  out,  but 
hastened  to  be  avenged  on  Cassius.  The  multitude  once  appeased, 
dark  rumors  spread  about  the  city :  "  Cassius  was  only  a  false 
friend  to  the  people.  To  obtain  allies  he  had  already  sacrificed  the 
interests  of  Rome  to  the  Latins  and  Hernicans ;  but  he  wished  to 
stir  up  the  poor  against  the  great,  and  profit  from  their  quarrels  to 
get  himself  declared  king."  The  tribunes,  jealous  of  their  popu- 
larity, and  the  people,  whom  it  is  so  easy  to  frighten  with  empty 
shadows,  deserted  him,  when,  on  retiring  from  the  consulship,  the 
nobles  accused  him  of  treason  in  the  comitia  curiata,  ex  more  majorum.. 
Condemned  to  be  beaten  with  rods  and  beheaded  (486),  he  was 
executed  by  order  of  his  father  in  his  ancestral  home.^     Thus  have 

'  This  law  is  not  that  of  Cassius,  but  that  of  Sempronius  Atratinus,  wlio  very  probably 
did  no  more  than  reproduce  the  principal  provisions  of  Cassius,  excluding,  however,  the  Latins, 
whom  Cassius,  in  order  to  strengthen  the  alliance  of  Rome  with  them,  admitted  to  a  share  of 
the  lands  which  they  had  recently  conquered  in  concert  with  the  Romans.  (Dionys.,  viii.  68,  63 ; 
Livy,  ii.  41.) 

2  See  p.  307. 

'  Dion  Cassius  {Fraij.  1!))  regards  him  as  a  victim  of  the  nobles  :  ovk  a&iKTfcrai  ti  an-wXtro. 


292       ■  ROME   UNDER  THE  PATRICIAN  CONSULS. 

perished  so  many  popular  patricians,  victims  of  a  powerful  aristoc- 
racy. The  favor  of  the  people  is  dangerous :  it  has  slain  more 
tribunes  than  it  has  crowned. 

The  nobles,  once  rid  of  Cassius,  sought  to  preclude  the  return 
of  the  danger.  The  powerful  house  of  the  Fabii  was  signalized 
by  its  zeal  for  the  interests  of  the  Senate,  and  it  was  one  of  its 
members  that  had  pronounced  sentence  of  death  against  Cas- 
sius ;  the  nobles  desii'ed  no  other  consuls,  and  during  seven  years 
(484  -  478)  a  Fabius  forms  a  member  of  the  consulate.  In  vain, 
also,  did  the  tribunes  call  for  the  acceptance  of  the  agrarian  law. 
C.  Maenius  even  wished,  in  482,  to  oppose  his  veto  to  the  raising 
of  troops,  since  the  Senate  would  not  proceed  to  a  division  of  the 
lands.  But  the  consuls  conveyed  their  tribunal  out  of  the  city, 
where  the  tribunitian  protection  did  not  extend,  and  summoned  the 
citizens  to  the  enrolment,  causing,  by  their  lictors,  the  farms 
to  be  burned,  the  fruit-trees  to  be  cut  down,  and  the  fields  laid 
waste  of  those  who  did  not  give  their  names.  These  violent  acts 
might  prove  dangerous :  the  Senate  preferred  fighting  the  people 
with  its  proper  weapons,  Ijy  gaining  some  members  of  the  college 
of  triljunes,  whose  opposition  stopped  the  veto  of  Sp.  Licinius  in 
480,  and  of  Pontificius^  in  479.  But  the  soldiers  took  it  on  them- 
selves to  avenge  the  feebleness  of  the  tribimate,  and  in  480  the 
legions  refused  to  gain  a  victoiy  over  the  Veientines,  so  as  not  to 
secure  to  Caeso  Fabius   the   honor  of  a  triumph. 

Here  the  history  l^ecomes  obscure.  The  Faljii,  chiefs  of  the 
Senate,  pass  over  to  the  people,  and  then  are  forced  to  leave  Rome. 
We  cannot  but  see  in  this  change  one  of  those  frequent  revolutions 
in  aristocratic  republics.  Without  doubt,  the  patricians  were  alarmed 
at  seeing  the  consulate  become  the  heritage  of  one  family,  and  the 
Fabii  were  obliged  to  seek  among  the  people,  notwithstanding  their 
ambition,  that  support  which  the  Senate  intended  to  withdraw.  Won 
over  by  the  popular  words  and  conduct  of  M.  Fabius  (479),  the 
soldiers  promised  him,  this  time,  the  defeat  of  the  Veientines. 
The  battle  was  bloody ;  the  consul's  brother  perished :  but  the 
soldiers  kept  their  word :  the  Etruscans  were  crushed.^  On  their 
return  the  Fabii  received  the  wounded  plebeians  into  their  houses, 

'  Livy,  ii.  43,  44.  ^  Livy,  ii.  44  ;  Dionjs.,  ix.  6. 


INTERNAL   HISTORY   FROM   509   TO  470.  293 

and  henceforth  no  family  was  more  popular.  The  next  year,  Caeso 
Fabius,  having  owed  the  consulate  "  rather  to  the  peojjle's  votes 
than  those  of  the  nobles," '  forgot  that  he  was  the  accuser  of 
Cassius,  and  wished  to  extort  from  the  patricians  the  execution  of 
the  agrarian  law.  Since  all  hope  of  obtaining  justice  for  the  people 
was  lost,  the  whole  gens,  with  its  clients  and  partisans,  left  the 
city,  where  it  was  uselessly  compromised  in  the  eyes  of  the  patri- 
cians, and  m  order  to  be  still  useful  to  Rome  in  its  vohmtary 
exile,  it  established  itself  before  the  enemy  ^  on  the  banks  of  the 
Cremera.  Later  on,  the  pride  of  the  Fabian  gens  insisted  in  seeing 
in  this  exile  the  devotion  of  three  hundred  and  six  Fal:)ii,  who 
sustained,  with  their  four  thousand  clients,  on  behalf  of  tot- 
tering Rome,  the  war  against  the  Veientmes.  One  Fabius  only, 
left  at  Rome  because  of  his  tender  age,  prevented,  it  is  said,  the 
extinction  of  the  whole  clan.^ 

After  conquering  in  many  encounters,  they  allowed  themselves 
to  be  drawn  into  an  ambuscade  in  which  the  greater  part  perished. 
The  rest  took  refuge  on  a  steep  hill,  and  fought  there  from  morning 
till  evening.  '•  They  were  surrovmded  by  heaps  of  dead ;  but  the 
enemy  was  so  numerous  that  the  arrows  rained  on  them  like  flakes  of 
snow.  By  dint  of  striking,  their  swords  had  become  blunt  and  their 
bucklers  had  been  shattered.  Yet  they  never  ceased  fighting,  and 
snatching  arms  from  the  enemy,  they  fell  on  them  like  wild  beasts."  * 
While  these  heroic  scenes  were  going  on,  which  remind  us  of  the 
exploits  sung  in  the  chansons  de  geste,  the  consul  Menenius  came 
by  chance  into  the  neighborhood  with  an  army ;  he  did  nothing 
to  save  the  Fabii.  Perhaps  this  family,  so  proud,  which  had  tried 
to  rule  in  Rome  by  its  consular  office,  and  afterward  by  the  favor 
of  the  people,  was  sacrificed  to  the  jealous  fears  of  the  Senate,  as 
afterward    Sicinius    and   his   band  to  the  terrors  of   the   decemvirs 

The  pontiffs   inscribed   among   the   dies   nefastl   that   on   which 


1  Non  patruvi  magh  quam  plebis  studiis  .  .  .  consul  factus.     (Livy,  ii.  48.) 

2  Cum  familiis  suis.     (Aul.  Gell.,  xvii.  21.) 

'  Dionys.,  ix.  15;  Livy,  ii.  50;  0\id.,  Fast.  ii.  195,  sci;.  Dionysius  says  four  tbousand 
clients  and  eTolpot;  Festus,  five  thousand  clients.  The  Vitellii  ]iretcmk'd  also,  aided  only  by 
their  clients,  to  have  defended  against  the  Aequicolae  a  town  which  took  their  name,  Vitellia. 
(Suet.,  Vitdl.  i.) 

*  Dionys.,  ix.  21. 


294  EOME   UNDER   THE  PATRICIAN  CONSULS. 

the  Fabii  had  perished,  and  the  gate  by  which  they  had  left 
was  cursed ;  no  consul  would  ever  cross  the  entrance  on  an  ex- 
pedition.^ Rome  preserved  the  memorial  of  its  misfortunes,  and 
by  this  mourning,  perpetuated  through  centuries,  she  prevented  its 
repetition. 


IV.   Right  of  the  Tribunes  to  accuse  the  Consuls  and  to 

BRING   forward   PlEBISCITA. 

The  people  had  not  been  able  to  prevent  the  exile  of  the 
Fabii ;  they  wished  at  least  to  avenge  them.  The  tribunes  accused 
Menenius  of  treason  (476  b.  c.)  ;  shame  and  grief  overcame  him, 
he  starved  himself  to  death.  This  was  a  considerable  success.^ 
Until  then  the  power  of  the  tribunes  had  been  confined  to  their 
veto,  and  this  the  consuls  well  knew  how  to  render  illusory ;  but 
we  see  them  now  adopting  a  new  weapon.  The  disaster  at 
Cremera  and  the  public  mourning  helped  them  to  gain  the  right  of 
citing  the  consuls  to  the  bar  of  justice.  Henceforth  the  tribuni- 
tian  accusers  waited  for  those  magistrates  who  are  opposed  to 
the  agrarian  law,  till  they  gave  up  office.  Excluded  from  the 
Curiae,  the  Senate,  and  the  magistracies ;  annulled  in  the  centuries 
by  the  preponderating  influence  of  the  patricians ;  deprived  by 
the  dictatorship  of  the  tribunitian  protection,  —  the  plebeians  now 
found  the  means  of  intimidating  their  most  violent  adversaries  by 
summoning  them  before  their  tribes,  concilium  plehis.  For  meeting 
and  acting  the  tribunes  had  need  neither  of  the  permission  of 
the  Senate  nor  the  consecration  of  the  augurs ;  ^  and  the  patricians 
who  could  not  pretend  to  the  tribunate  did  not  vote  in  the  popular 
assembly,  just  as  English  peers  do  not  in  the  elections  for  the 
Lower  House  of  Parliament.     In  less  than  twenty-six  years,  seven 

1  Dion.,  Fr.  21. 

-  From  the  texts  of  Dionys.  (ix.  44,  46)  and  of  Lydus  (i.  34,  44)  we  might  conchide  that 
a  law  conferred  on  tlie  tribunes  this  right  of  accusing  the  consuls  ;  but  we  cannot  understand 
how  this  law  could  have  been  made.  We  must  rest  content  to  be  ignorant  of  many  things 
respecting  these  old  times. 

^  Mi7rf  irpo^ovXciiiaTos  .  .  .  jxi^rt  twv  Upav.  (Dionys.,  ix.  41.)  Pkbcius  magistratus  nul- 
lus  ausjncalo  crcatur.     (Llvy,  vi.  42.) 


INTEE:N'iVL   HISTORY   FROM   r>09   TO   470.  295 

consuls  and  many  patricians  of  the  most  illustrious  families  were 
accused,  condemned  in  penalties,  or  escaped  this  shame  only  by 
exile  or  voluntary  death. ^ 

In  475  B.  c.  Servilius,  and  in  473  L.  Furius  and  C.  Manlius  were 
accused  by  the  tribunes,  the  former  for  a  mismanaged  attack  in 
the  war  against  the  Veientines,  the  others  for  not  having  executed 
the  agrarian  law.  Servilius  escaped ;  but  Manlius  and  Furius  had 
as  their  opponent  the  tribune  Genucius,  who  had  sworn  before 
the  people  to  allow  no  obstacle  to  stand  in  his  way.  On  the 
day  of  the  trial  he  was  found  dead  in  his  bed  (473).^ 

This  assassination  spread  terror  among  the  people  and  its 
chiefs,  and  when  the  consuls  forced  the  plel^eians  to  enlist,  arbi- 
trarily distriljuting  the  ranks,  and  disdaining  to  heed  any  com- 
plaints, not  a  voice  arose  from  the  tribunes'  seat.  "  Your  tribvmes 
are  deserting  you,"  cried  Publilius  Volero,  a  brave  centurion  who 
refused  to  serve  as  a  common  soldier.  "  They  prefer  to  allow  a 
citizen  to  perish  iinder  the  rods  than  expose  themselves  to  assassina- 
tion." On  the  lictors  approaching  to  lay  hold  on  him,  he  pushed 
them  away,  took  refuge  in  the  midst  of  the  crowd,  stirred  it 
up,  roused  it  to  action,  and  drove  from  the  Forum  the  consuls 
and  the  lictors  with  their  fasces  broken. 

The  year  following  he  was  named  tribune  (472).  He  could 
have  taken  revenge  by  an  accusation  against  the  consuls :  he 
preferred  employing  for  the  popular  cause  the  courage  which  a 
successful  rising  had  just  aroused  in  the  people.  It  was  the 
army  which,  on  the  Sacred  Mount,  had  elected  the  first  tribunes ; 
but  this  army,  in  a  state  of  revolt  against  the  consuls,  was  the 
plebeian  part  of  the  comitia  centuriata ;  and  whilst  it  had,  with- 
out douljt,  l^een  decided  that  the  new  chiefs  of  the  plel^s  should 
be  designated  in  the  popular  assembly  of  the  tribes,  the  pa- 
tricians well  knew  that  if  they  succeeded  in  carrying  the  election 
back  to  the  centuries,^   the  revolution    would   be  abortive.     Efforts 

1  Menenius  and  Servilius  (Livy,  ii.  52),  the  consuls  of  the  year  473  (ii.  54)  ;  Appius  (ii. 
56),  Caeso  (iii.  12),  the  consuls  of  the  year  455  (iii.  31).  Cf.  Dionys.,  x.  42.  He  says  else- 
where (vii.  65)  :  'EvSiv  dc  ap^d^evos  6  drjuos  TJfidTj  fxf'yas  J]  6e  dpt(rroKpaTia  ttoXXo  tou  dp^aiov 
d^taipaTos  airefiake.     Livy   (ii.  54)   says  the  same  thing. 

-  According  to  Dion  Cassius  there  were  many  more  murders. 

^  Cicero  (pro  Corn.  19)  and  Dionysius  (vi.  89)  say  that  the  first  tribunes  were  chosen 
by  the  curies.  But  we  cannot  understand  how  the  victorious  plebs  could  consent  to  receive 
its  new  leaders  from  the  hands  of  the  patricians. 


296       .  EOIVIE   UNDER  THE   PATEICIAN   CONSULS. 

were  certainly  made  to  effect  this  end.  Volero  wished  to  decide 
the  matter  by  demanding  that  the  designation  by  the  tribes 
should  be  definitely  established.  This  law  would  restore  to  the 
tribunate  its  democratic  vigor.  The  patricians  succeeded  during 
a  year  in  preventing  it  from  passing.  But  Volero  was  re- 
elected, with  Laetorius  as  colleague,  who  added  to  the  Publilian 
proposal :  that  the  aediles  should  be  named  by  the  tribes,  and 
the  tribes  should  take  cognizance  of  the  general  affairs  of  the 
state,  that  is  to  say,  the  plebeian  assembly  should  have  the  right 
of  making  ^jZeft^'scito.^  On  their  part,  the  Senate  took  care  that 
Appius  Claudius  should  secure  the  consulship,  as  being  the  most 
violent  defender  of  patrician  privileges.^  The  struggle  was  sharp ; 
it  was  the  most  serious  contest  since  the  creation  of  the  trib- 
unes. "  This  man,"  said  the  colleague  of  Volero,  of  Appius, 
"  is  not  a  consul,  but  an  executioner  of  the  people."  Then, 
sharply  attacked  by  Appius  at  the  assembly :  '■  I  speak  with  diffi- 
culty, Quirites,  but  I  know  how  to  act :  to-morrow  I  will  have 
the  law  passed  or  I  will  die  under  your  very  eyes."  The  next 
day  Appius  came  to  the  Forum,  surrounded  by  the  whole 
patrician  youth  and  by  his  clients.  Laetorius  again  read  his 
rogation,  and  before  calling  on  the  tribes  to  vote,  ordered  the 
patricians,  who  had  not  the  right  of  voting  in  these  comitia,  to 
retire.  Appius  opposed  this :  "  The  tribune  has  no  right  over  the 
patricians."  Besides  he  had  not  used  the  customary  formula : 
"  If  you  think  it  good,  withdraw,  Quirites."  To  discuss  law  and 
legal  forms  in  the  midst  of  a  revolution  was  to  increase  further 
the  popular  ferment.  Laetorius,  instead  of  answering,  sent  against 
the  consul  his  viator- ;  the  consul,  his  lictors  against  the  tribune ; 
and  a  bloody  fight  took  place.  Laetorius  was  woimded ;  Ijut,  in 
order  to  save  Appius,  the  consulars  were  obliged  to  hurry  him 
away    into    the    senate-house.       He    entered,    calling  the    gods    to 

1  Dionysius,  ix.  43  ;  Zonaras,  vii.  1 7.  As  Heaven  was  not  fonsulted  fur  the  holding  of 
comitia  tributa,  so  neither  were  they  preceded  by  solemn  sacrifices,  Uke  the  comitia  ccnturiata ; 
they  were  beyond  the  control  of  the  augurs.  (Dionysius,  ix.  41,  49.)  They  were  held  on 
market  days,  in  order  that  members  of  the  rustic  tribes  might  attend ;  if  the  debate  had  not 
closed  with  sunset,  it  coidd  not  be  resumed  till  the  third  market  day  following.  The  jiatricians, 
having  in  the  curies  their  own  proper  assembly,  and  all  the  influence  in  the  Senate  and  the 
centuries,  did  not  vote  in  the  comitia  tributa.     (Livy,  ii.  60.) 

2  Propugnatorem  senatus,  majestatisque  vindicem  suae,  ad  omnes  tribuiiicios  plebeiosque 
oppositum  tumullus.     (Livy,  ii.  61.) 


INTERNAL   HISTORY   FEOM   509   To    170.  297 

witness  the  weakness  of   the    Senate,   who   were  allowing  laws  to 
1)0  imposed  more  severe  than  those  of  the  Sacred  Mount  (471).* 

Nevertheless,  the  people  remained  masters  of  the  Forum, 
voted  the  Publilian  law,  and  forced  the  Senate  to  accept  it  hy 
seizing  the  Capitol.  Twenty-four  years  ago,  they  had  compelled 
the  patricians  to  grant  the  creation  of  the  tribunate  only  by 
leaving  the  city ;  now,  to  complete  the  victory  begun  on  the  Sacred 
Mount,  it  was  the  very  citadel  of  Rome  that  they  held  by  arms. 
What  boldness  in  men  so  recently  enfranchised !  What  strength 
in  this  people,  lately  so  humble !  The  defeat  of  the  aristocracy 
has,  sooner  or  later,  become  certain ;  for  the  people  will  find  in 
the  tribunate,  henceforth  free  from  the  influence  of  the  nobles,  a 
sure  protection ;  in  the  assemblies  which  have  the  right  of  making 
plcbiscita,  a  means  of  action ;  lastly,  in  their  numbers  and  disci- 
pline, an  ever-increasing  power." 

Among  the  tribunes  nominated  after  the  adoption  of  the 
Publilian  law  was  Sp.  Icilius.  To  prevent  the  return  of  fresh 
acts  of  violence,  he  made  use  of  the  right  which  had  just  been 
recognized  as  belonging  to  the  commonalty,  and  had  this  law  passed  :  ^ 
'•  that  no  one  should  interrupt  a  tribune  when  speaking  before  the 
people.  If  any  one  infringed  this  prohibition,  he  was  to  find 
security  to  come  up  for  judgment ;  if  he  failed  to  do  so,  he  was 
to  be  punished  with  death  and  his  goods  confiscated." 

In  the  struggle,  Laetorius  had  been  w^ounded,  perhaps  killed.* 
But  Appius  had  been  humbled  as  patrician  and  consul ;  the  death 
of  a  tribune  did  not  satisfy  his  wounded  pride.  An  invasion  of 
Aequians  and  Volscians  placed  the  plebeians  at  his  mercy,  by 
obliging  them  to  leave  Rome  under  his  command.  Never  had 
authority  been  more  imperious  or  arbiti'ary.  "  My  soldiers  are 
so  many  Voleros,"  said  he,  and  he  seemed  to  try,  by  dint  of  his 
unjust  severity,  to  drive  them  into  revolt.  Whether  it  was  treason, 
or  a  panic,  or  the   vengeance  of  soldiers    who  wished   to  dishonor 

^  Dionys.,  ix.  48. 

^  These  plebiscita  were  not  then  obligatory  on  the  two  orders;  but  in  formuhiting  the 
wishes  of  the  people,  they  gave  tliem  a  force  which  it  was  difEcult  to  resist  for  long. 
Legally,  these  plebiscita  re<piireil  the  sanction  of  the  Senate  and  the  Curiae. 

"  Dionjs.,  vii.  17.  This  Icilian  law  is  commonly  assigned  to  the  time  of  the  trial  of 
Coriolanus  (see  p.  288,  note  4).  We  conform,  in  placing  it  here,  to  the  opinion  of  Xiebuhr 
and  the  logical  concatenation  of  facts. 

*  At  least  he  does  not  a])j>ear  again. 


298      ■  EOME   UNDER   THE   PATEICIAN   CONSULS. 

their  general,  is  uncertain ;  bnt  at  the  first  charge  against  the 
Volsci,  they  threw  down  their  arms  and  fled  to  the  Roman  terri- 
tory. There  they  again  encountered  Appius  and  his  vengeance. 
The  centurions,  the  officers  who  had  abandoned  the  standards, 
were  put  to  death,  and  the  soldiers  decimated.  This  bloodshed 
atoned  for  the  last  plebeian  victories. 

Appius  re-entered  Rome,  certain  of  the  fate  which  awaited 
him,  but  satisfied  with  having,  at  the  price  of  his  life,  once  at 
least  subdued  this  people.  Summoned,  on  quitting  his  consulship, 
before  the  popular  comitia,  he  appeared  in  the  character  of  accuser 
and  not  of  supjjliant,  inveighed  against  the  tribunes  and  the  assembly, 
and  made  them  yield  liy  his  haughtiness  and  boldness.  The  day 
of  judgment  was  put  off :  he  did  not  wait  for  it ;  a  vohintary 
death  forestalled  his  condemnation,  and  the  crowd  admiring,  in 
spite  of  itself,  this  indomitable  courage,  honored  the  funeral  of 
Appius  by  an  immense  attendance  (470).  Livy  makes  him  die  of 
sickness :    this  is  less  dramatic,  Ijut  more  probal^le.^ 

In  493  the  tribunes  had  only  their  right  of  veto ;  in  476 
they  acquired  the  right  of  accusing  cousulars,  and  in  471  that 
of  passing  plebiscita  by  the  people.  Thus  twenty-three  years  had 
sufficed  for  organizing  the  political  assembly  of  the  plebeians, 
and  for  making  it  already,  within  certain  limits,  a  legislative 
and  judicial  pojver.  As  regards  the  agrarian  law,  it  had  been 
rejected,  and,  in  spite  of  so  many  high-sounding  words  and 
promises,  the  people  continued  in  poverty.  But  it  was  in  exciting 
the  crowd  by  this  delusion  about  the  equality  of  property  that 
the  tribunes  had  gained  their  place  in  the  state  and  some  trust- 
worthy guaranties.     So  it  has  been,  and  always  will  be. 

1  Dionys.,  ix.  54;  Livy,  ii.  01. 

2  AED.  PL  (aediles  plebis).  Head  of  Ceres.  The  reverse,  M.  FAN.  L.  CRT.  P..\. 
Marcus,  Faunius,  and  Lucius  Critonius,  aediles  of  the  people.  Silver  moneys  of  the  families 
Fannia  and  Critonia.  We  shall  return  to  this  matter  when  the  creation  of  the  curule 
aedileship  takes  place. 


PLEBEIAN   AEDILES.'' 


CHAPTER   Vn. 

MILITARY  HISTOEY  OF  EOME  FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  TAEQUIN  TO  THE 

DECEMVIES  (495-451). 

I.     The  Roman  Territory  in  495  ;   Porsenna  and  Cassius. 

MONARCHY  had  given  to  Rome  a  grandeur  which  the  treaty 
of  Tarquin  with  Carthage  testifies,^  and  to  the  plebeians  a 
well-being  which  resulted  from  the  commerce  which  this  treaty 
shows/  as  well  as  by  successful  wars  made  under  the  kings,  and 
the  immense  works  carried  out  by  Ancus,  Servius,  and  the  two 
Tarquins.  The  aristocratic  revolution  of  509  caused  the  Romans 
to  lose  this  power  and  prosperity.  The  people  sank  into  misery, 
and  Rome  was  almost  reduced  to  its  own  walls. 

The  most  dangerous  of  the  wars  called  forth  by  this  revolu- 
tion was  that  which  Porsenna,  the  powerful  Lars  of  Clusium, 
conducted.  He  conquered  the  Romans  and  took  fi'om  them  the 
territory  of  the  ten  tribes  established  north  of  the  Tiber.  Rome 
hid  her  defeat  under  heroic  legends,  and  it  was  only  after  she 
had  become  mistress  of  the  world  that  she  did  not  blush  to  avow 
the  acceptance  from  Porsenna  of  harder  condition's  than  she  herself 
ever  imposed  after  her  most  brilliant  victories.  He  forbade  the 
use  of  iron,  except  for  agricultural  purposes,'  and  exacted  as  sign 
of  submission  that  the  Senate  should  send  him  a  curule  chair 
or  ivory  tlu'one,  a  sceptre,  and  a  crown.*      Rome  being  overcome, 

I  See  p.  251. 

'  Di'ilita  urhe  .  .  .  (Tac.,  Hisl.  iii.  72)  defendit  ne  ferro  nisi  in  ayricullura  uterenlur. 
(Pliny,  Hint.  Nat.  xxxiv.  39.) 

^  Dionys.,  v.  34. 

*  There  remains  a  curious  proof  of  the  extent  of  this  commerce.  It  is  a  cup  in  silver 
repoux.ie  work,  recently  found  among  a  large  number  of  other  gold,  silver,  and  bronze  objects 
at  Praeneste  (Palestrina),  and  preserved  in  the  Kircher  Museum  [Collegio  Romano]  at  Rome. 
iVU  the  objects  which  compose  this  treasure  differ  greatly  both  from  Etruscan  and  from  Greek 


300 


ROME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN  CONSULS, 


Porsenna     aimed    at    conquering    Latium,    which    three    centuries 
earlier   the    Etruscans    had    victoriously  traversed,    and    at    opening 


PHOENICIAN    CUP   FOUND   AT    PRAKNESTE. 

up  a  route  towards  the  lucumonies  of  the  Vulturnus.  The  Greeks 
of  Campania  saw  with  terror  the  preparations  for  this  new  inva- 
sion, and  to  prevent  it  they  came  to  the  help  of  the  Latin 
cities   which    were    resisting    the     Etruscans.      Aricia,    which    has 

art.  They  recall,  by  their  Oriental  stamp,  other  finds  made  in  Cyprus  or  Greece.  Our  patera 
is  an  imitation  of  the  Egyptian.  The  centre  is  filled  with  a  war  scene.  A  prince  is  in  the  act 
of  putting  to  death  some  captives.  Before  him  stands  the  God  Ilorus :  behind  a  warrior  in 
arms,  who  brings  other  victims.  Above,  a  sparrow-hawk  with  outspread  wings.  The  border 
is  fiUed  with  symbolic  scenes.     Four  sacred  barks  are  symmetrically  disposed ;  on  two  of  them 


MILITARY    HISTORY   OF   ROME   FROM   495   TO   451.  301 

bequeathed  its  name  to  tlie  picturesque  village  of  Laricia  on  the 
southern  slopes  of  the  Albau  Mount,  near  the  charming  Lake  of 
Nemi,  was  then  the  most  flourishmg  city  in  Latium.  It  had  re- 
sisted Tarquin  Superbus,  and  when  the  son  of  the  King  of  Clusium, 
Aruns,  appeared  before  its  walls  with  a  powerful  army,  the 
inliabitants  met  him  bravely  in  the  field  with  their  Latin  and 
Greek  allies.  But  they  were  unable  to  withstand  the  charge  of 
the  Etruscan  phalanx,  and  they  were  already  retiring  in  disorder, 
when  the  men  of  Cumae,  by  a  skilful  manoeuvre,  charging  the 
enemy  in  the  rear,  changed  his  victory  into  defeat.^  Aruns  was 
slain,  and  there  are  shown  near  Laricia  the  ruins  of  a  tomb, 
built  in  the  Etruscan  manner,  where  they  allege  that  he  was 
buried.^  The  debris  of  his  army  took  refuge  in  Rome,  which 
profited  from  this  reverse  to  rise  in  insurrection ;  the  Etruscan 
rule  was  driven  back  again  beyond  the  Tiber. 

Rome  recovered  its  liberty,  but  not  its  power ;  ^  for  the 
Etruscans   continued   masters  of   the  right  bank  of  the   river,   and 

is  tlie  scarabaeus,  symbol  of  the  sun  and  immortality ;  iif  the  two  otliers  some  divinity. 
Between  the  shi])s  are  tliickets  of  lotus  and  a  woman  who  is  nursing  a  boy. 

"  Two  circles  of  hieroglyphic  writing  are  round  these  scenes ;  but  the  whole  is  coarsely 
imitated ;  the  hieroglyphs  give  no  sense. 

'•  The  sparrow-hawk  is  surmounted  by  a  Phoenician  inscription  which  M.  Kenan  reads  : 
Esclnniinjair  hen  Ischetu  (Eschmunjair,  son  of  Ischeto). 

"  These  words  are  engraved  in  a  very  delicate  character.  They  determine  conclusively  the 
Phoenician  origin  of  the  treasure  of  Praeneste  and  of  other  similar  finds.  But,  besides,  they 
help  to  fix  the  date  with  all  but  certainty. 

"  The  character  of  the  letters  does  not  permit  us  to  carry  down  the  composition  of  the 
inscription  lower  than  the  si.xth  century  B.  c.  The  hieroglyphics  lead  to  the  same  conclusion. 
M.  Maspero  finds  among  them  no  sign  which  ajjpears  in  the  texts  from  the  twenty-seventh 
dynasty  on  (about  the  fifth  century).  The  inscri])tion  furnishes  us  again  with  an  indication 
of  another  sort.  M.  Kenan  translates  the  last  ])ropcr  name  by  '  the  work  of  Him  '  (of  God), 
and  compares  it  to  analogous  names  such  as  Abdo  (the  servant  of  Ilim),  etc.,  etc.  Now  the 
pronoun  suffi.x  '  of  Him,'  which  is  written  in  Phoenician  by  a  vav,  the  Carthaginians  render  by 
alef.  Our  inscription  writes  it  by  the  latter  letter.  Then  again,  on  a  cup  of  the  same  sort,  but 
without  inscription,  found  in  the  same  place,  are  seen  following,  in  a  circular  design,  the  differ- 
ent events  of  a  royal  hunt.  Kow  among  the  animals  hunted  by  the  King  is  a  large  a]ie,  prob- 
ably the  gorilla,  unknown  in  Egypt  and  in  Syria.  It  results  from  this  that  these  plates  or 
cups  are  most  Ukely  of  Carthaginian  origin."  As  our  manufacturers  imitate  for  the  slop  trade 
the  products  of  China  and  Japan,  so  the  Carthaginian  merchants  had  made  gold  and  silver 
articles  badly  copied  from  the  Phoenician  or  Egyptian  styles.  Our  imitation  Poeno-Egyptian 
cup,  bought  from  the  sailors  of  the  coast  by  some  rich  inhabitant  of  Palestrina,  is  a  ])roof  of  the 
activity  of  the  Carthaginian  commerce  with  the  Latin  cities.  [Cf.  ISL  Clcrmont-Ganneau's 
remarkable  tract  on  the  second  cup,  representing  the  adventure  with  the  colossal  ape.  —  EdS] 

>  Dionys.,  v.  36. 

'  Canina  has  given  the  restoration  of  it. 

'  This  clearly  resijts  from  the  war  against  Veii  in  483,  and  from  the  reduction  of  the 


302 


KOME   UNDER  THE  PATRICIAN  CONSULS. 


on  the  left  bank  was  recovered  only  the  old  aga^  Eomanus, 
limited  on  the  south  by  the  lands  of  the  Latins  of  Gabii, 
Bovillae,  Telleuae,  and  Tusculum. 

From  the  lofty  citadel  of  this  last-named  city,  which  rises 
15  miles  off  from  the  walls  of  Servius,  can  be  seen  all  who 
leave  Eome   by    the   ijorta    Capcna ;    but    from    that    distance   also 


^ Ig l£ 2t> 5&  ROMAn  NILES 

Map  OF  THE  "AsEB  Roman  us" 


the  Tusculans,  their  faithful  allies,    signalled,   by   two   beacon-fires 
on  their  ramparts,  the  approach  of  the  Aequians  and  Volscians. 

On    the     east     some     successful    expeditions    into    the    Sabine 
territory    extended    the    Roman   frontier  to   the    neighborhood   of 


30  tribes  of  Servius  to  20,  the  number  which  is  fountl  after  the  expulsion  of  tlie  kings.  In 
495  are  named  21  (Livy,  ii.  21)  ;  a  new  tribe,  called  Crustuminian,  from  the  name  of  a  conquered 
city,  having  been  formed  after  the  Sabine  war.  Fidenae,  which  was  reduced  only  in  the  year 
426,  is  two  leagues  from  Rome. 


•A 


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63 


o 


MILITARY   HISTORY   OF   ROIVIE   FROM    495   TO   451. 


303 


Eretum,  which  remainod  free.^  Tibur,  nearer  Rome,  from  which 
it  was  separated  only  by  20  miles,  also  kept  its  mdependence,  and 
promised  to  defend  it  bravely  by  the  worship  which  it  paid  to 
its  civic  divinity,  Hercules  of  the  Rocks,  Hercules  Saxanus,  whose 
temple  rose  above  the  Falls  of  the  Anio.  And  it  did  in  reality 
defend  it  for  more  than  a  century  and  a  half.^  On  the  north 
the  frontier  reached  scarcely  beyond  the  Janiculum.     Rome  was  at 


I^i-^>f--. 


"# 


'    \'  ^ 


TUSCULUM.        RESTORED    BY   CANINA.  ' 


that  time  no  longer  a  great  state,  but  it  was  always  one  of  the 
greatest  of  the  Italian  cities,  and  this  made  its  fortune.  Within 
its  cu'cumference,  and  on  this  territory  of  only  a  few  leagues  in 
extent,  were  reckoned,  if  we  believe  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus,^ 
130,000  fighting  men,  — 130,000  men  imder  the  command  of  the 
consuls,   directed  in  times  of  peril  by  one  will,  and  always  under 

'  Since  the  war  during  which  the  Sabine  Attus  Clausus  settled  at  Rome  (see  p.  177,  n.  1), 
there  was  no  independent  Sabine  town  nearer  Rome  than  Eretum. 
2  Tt  was  not  taken  till  .33.5. 
'  Dionys.,  v.  20 ;  he  says,  according  to  the  census-lists. 


304 


ROME   UJSTDEE   THE   PATEICIAN   CONSULS. 


excellent  discipline.  Thanks  to  the  concentration  of  their  forces, 
the  Romans  were  able  to  attend  safely  to  their  internal  disputes  ; 
for,  though  they  expended  in  their  Forum  the  energy  which  they 
should  have  transferred  more  advantageously  to  fields  of  battle, 
yet  they  were  too  strong  to  be  overwhelmed  l^y  any  enemy  who 
might  attack  them,  —  a  serious  war  always  brmging  back  union, 
and    with    it    invincible    power.       Thus    they    never   ceased    having 


TUSCULUM.  —  PRESENT  STATE. 


confidence   in   their  good   fortune ;    from   the    earliest    days    of    the 
Republic  they  had  raised  a  temple  to  Hope. 

Their  enemies  were  above  all  the  Aeqiiians  and  Volscians. 
Mountaineers,  poor  and  fond  of  pillaging,  always  threatening  and 
yet  inaccessible,  to-day  in  the  plain  burning  the  crops,  to-morrow 
strongly  entrenched  or  hidden  among  the  mountains,  the  Aequians 
were,  if  not  the  most  dangerous,  yet  at  least  their  most  trouble- 
some enemy.  The  Volscians,  numerous,  rich,  and  possessing  a 
fertile    territory,    ought    to    have    caused    more    alarm,    had    they 


MILITARY   HISTOEY    OF   ROME   FROM   495   TO   451. 


305 


not  been  divided  into  a  multitude  of  small  tribes,  which  never 
united  either  for  attack  or  defence,  and  showed  neither  plan  nor 
perseverance  in  their  expeditions,  which  the  impatience  of  some 
and  the  sluggishness  of  others  generally  foiled.  This  state  of 
division ;  the  want  of  a  capital,  the  loss  of  which  might  by  one 
blow  end  the  struggle ;  as  well  as  the  nature  of  the  country, 
intersected  with  mountains  and  marshes,  should 
have  made  the  war  iuterminable.  With  such 
enemies  there  was  no  other  way  of  finishing 
it  than  that  which,  but  recently,  the  Pontifical 
Government  employed  against  the  brigands  of 
the  Roman  States :  to  raze  the  cities  and  exile 
or  exterminate  the  population.  This  is  what 
Rome  did.  But  when  the  war  was  ended,  the 
country  of  the  Volscians  was  nothing  but  a 
mere   sohtude. 

In   Etruria,    the    enemy  was   different ;    Veil, 
a   commercial    and    mdustrial    city,^   was    only  4 
leagues  from  the  Janiculum.      On  this  side  they 
knew  where  to  strike :    it  was  simply  to  march 
directly  against  the  city,  besiege  it  and  take  it. 
But  the  danger  for  Rome  was  the  same  as  for 
Veil,  for  the   two   cities  foiuid  themselves  exist- 
ing  under  very  similar    conditions :    both   large, 
populous,   strong  in  situation,  protected  by  strong  walls,  and  able 
to  put  considerable  forces  on  foot.      So  Rome  was  not  in  a  state 
for  undertaking  this  siege,  which   would  end  the  war,   tUl  a  cen- 
tury more  had  elapsed. 

Among  these  enemies  we  have  reckoned  neither  Latins  nor 
Hernicans,  whom  theh  position  necessarily  rendered  allies  of  the 
Republic.  It  was  by  the  burning  of  the  Latin  farms  that  the 
incursions  of  the  Aequians  and  Volscians  always  became  known  at 
Rome ;    and  the  Hernicans,  established   between  these  two  people, 


*  Dionys.  (ii.  52)  calls  it  as  great  as  Athens,  and  Livy  (v.  24)  finer  than  Rome.  It  was 
situate  where  the  Isola  Farnese  is  now,  on  a  height  which  overlooks  a  magnificent  valley, 
through  wliich  runs  the  Cremera,  a  short  way  from  the  first  posting  station  on  the  route  from 
Rome  to  Florence,  11  miles  from  the  walls  of  Servius. 

^  This  statue  is  reproduced  in  the  Atlas  of  the  Bull.  arch.  2,  vol.  Lx.  pi.  3,  under  the  title 
of  Stalua  archaica. 

VOL.  1.  20 


306 


EOME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 


in  the  valley  of  the  Treriis,  had  to   suffer  daily  from  their  depre- 
dations.     This  alliance  dated  from  ancient  times  {feriae  Latinae). 


PLAN   OF    THE    CITY   OP    VEII.* 

Under   the   last    Tarquiu    it    was    changed    on    Rome's    side    into    a 
domination  which  the  exile  of  the  kings  removed,   and  which   the 

'  This  fil.an  has  been  drawn  up  by  Canina,  who  has  marked  on  it  the  tombs  discovered 
in  the  Necropolis,  and  the  part  of  the  city  where  were  found  some  columns,  bas-reliefs,  and  a 
colossal  statue  of  Tiberius,  which  is  in  the  Chiaramonti  Museum.  Veii,  which  remained 
deserted  till  Caesar's  time,  received  from  hira,  and  later  on  from  Augustus,  a  colony,  and 
New  Veii  seems  to  have  continued  several  centuries. 


MILITAEY   HISTORY   OF   ROME   FROM   495   TO   451.  307 

battle  of  Lake  Regillus  did  not  re-establish.  Rome  and  the  Latins 
continued  separate,  but  the  increasing  power  of  the  Volscians  and 
the  ravages  of  the  Aequiaiis  drew  them  closer.  In  493  b.  c,  during 
his  second  consulate,  Sp.  Cassius  signed  a  treaty  with  the  30  Latin 
cities,  either  designedly  omitted,  or  misunderstood  by  the  Roman 
liistorians,  because  it  bears  witness  to  their  feebleness  after  the 
wars  of  the  kings ;  but  there  could  still  be  read,  in  the  time  of 
Cicero,^  on  a  bronze  column :  "  There  shall  be  peace  between  the 
Romans  and  the  Latins  so  long  as  the  sky  remains  above  the 
earth  and  the  earth  under  the  sun.  They  shall  never  arm  against 
each  other ;  they  will  not  afford  any  passage  to  the  enemy  across 
their  territory,  and  they  will  bring  aid  with  all  their  force 
whenever  they  are  attacked.  All  booty  and  conquests  made  in 
common  are  to  be  divided."  Anotlier  witness  ^  enables  us  to  add : 
"  The  command  of  the  combined  army  shall  alternate  each  year 
between  the  two  peoples." 

Seven  years  later,  during  his  third  consulship,  some  time 
before  proposing  his  agrarian  law,  Cassius  concluded  a  like  treaty 
with  the  Hernicans.^  From  that  time  the  Aequians  and  Volscians 
could  make  no  movement  which  Hernican  or  Latin  messengers  did 
not  at  once  amiounce  at  Rome,  and  the  legions  hastening  either 
up  or  down  the  Valley  of  the  Trerus  were  able  to  threaten  the 
very  heart  of  the  enemy's  country.  These  two  treaties  added 
more  to  the  grandeur  of  Rome  than  any  of  those  which  it  signed 
ever  after ;  for  they  assured  its  existence  at  a  time  when  its 
power  might  have  been  nipped  in  the  bud.  The  whole  weight  of 
the  war  against  both  Aequians  and  Volscians  fell  upon  its  allies, 
and  on  this  side  it  generally  played  the  part  of  a  mere  auxiliary. 
Hence  the  little  importance  of  these  wars,  in  spite  of  the  acts  of 
heroism  and  devotion,  the  great  names,  and  the  marvellous  stories 
with  which  the  annalists  have  adorned  them. 


'  Cic,  pro  Balbo,  23  ;  Livy,  ii.  33. 

^  Cincius,  mentioned  by  Festus,  s.  v.  Praetor  ad  porlam  .  .  .  Quo  anno  Romanos  vnpera- 
tores  ad  exercitum  oporteret.  .  .  . 

'  It  is  by  virtue  of  tliis  treaty  that  the  colony  of  Antium  was  divided  between  the  Romans, 
Latins,  and  Hernieans :  eSo^e  rfi  ^ov\^  .  .  .  intrpi'^ai  AartVcui'  t€  Ka\  'Kpi'tKa)f  Tois  ^ovXofiiifois 
T^s  diTOKias  ij.erf'xfiv.      (Dionys.,  Lx.  59.) 


308 


EOME    UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 


n.   coriolanus  and  the  volscians  ;  cincinnatus  and  the 

Aequians. 

The    Volscians,    establislied    among    mountains    {monti    lepini), 
which  reach  a  height    of    5,000  feet,  and  whose  waters  form  the 

Pontine  Marshes,  had  the 
twofold  ambition  of  stretch- 
ing at  once  along  the 
fertile  Valley  of  the  Tiber 
and  along  that  of  the 
Liris.  After  the  fall  of 
Tarqnin,  they  had  retaken 
the  cities  which  that  King 
had  conquered  from  them. 
Stopped,  on  the  south,  by 
.  the  strong  position  of 
Circei,  which,  nevertheless, 
fell  into  their  power,  and 
by  the  impassable  and 
sterile  country  of  the 
Aurunci,  they  threw  them- 
selves upon  the  rich  plains 
of  Latium,  took  Velitrae 
and  Cora,  in  spite  of  their 
powerful  fortifications,  and 
carried  their  outposts 
within  ten  miles  of  Rome.' 
The  most  fortunate  of 
their  invasions,  and  that 
to  which  all  their  con- 
by   an    illustrious    Roman, 


_  ^^■'.v'f 


CERES.* 


quests    have    been    attached,    was    led 
an  exile  of  the  gens   Marcia. 

He   was,    says    the   legend,    a    patrician    distinguished    for    his 

1  At  Bovillae,  which  they  took  (Plut.,  Cor.  29),  as  well  as  Corioli,  Lavinium,  Satricum,  and 
Velitrae.     (Livy,  ii.  39.) 

*  Taken  from  an  ancient  painting  in  the  museum  at  Naples. 


MILITARY    HISTORY    OF   ROME    FROM   495   TO   451.  309 

courage,  piety,  and  justice.'  At  the  battle  of  Lake  Regillus  ho 
had  won  a  civic  crown,  aiid  gained  at  the  taking  of  Corioli  the 
surname  of  Coriolanus.  Once,  when  the  plebeians  refused  to  give 
levies  of  troops,  he  had  armed  Ills  own  clients,  and  sustained 
alone  the  war  against  the  Antiates.  Yet  the  people,  whom  lu; 
wounded  by  his  pride,  refused  to  give  him  the  consulship,  and 
Coriolanus  conceived  a  feeling  of  hatred  which  he  showed  by  some 
hasty  words.  During  the  retreat  to  the  Sacred  Mount  the  lands 
remained  imcultivated ;  to  fight  against  famine,  a  temple  was  vowed 
to  Ceres,  and  what  was  of  greater  service,  they  bought  corn  in 
Etruria  and  Sicil}-,  where  Gelon  refused  to  take  money  for  it. 
The  Senate  wished  to  distribute  it  gratuitously  to  the  people : 
"  No  corn  or  no  more  tribunes,"  said  Coriolanus.  This  exjiression 
was  understood  by  the  tribunes,  who  instantly  cited  him  before 
the  people.  Neither  the  threats  nor  entreaties  of  the  patricians 
could  move  them,  and  Coriolanus,  condemned  to  exile,  witlidrew 
to  the  Volscians  of  Antium,  a  powerful  and  rich  maritime  city. 
Tullius,  their  chief,  forgot  his  jealousy  and  hatred,  that  he  might 
arouse  in  the  heart  of  the  exile  a  desire  of  revenge ;  he  consented 
to  be  simply  his  lieutenant,  and  Coriolanus  marched  uj)on  Rome 
at  the  head  of  the  Volscian  legions.  No  army,  no  fortress  stopped 
him,  and  he  encamped  at  last  near  the  Cluilian  ditch,  ravaging 
the  lands  of  the  plebeians,  but  sparing  purposely  these  of  the 
nobles.  In  vain  did  Rome  try  to  bend  him.  The  most  vener- 
able of  the  consulars  and  the  priests  of  the  gods  came  to  him 
as  suppliants,  to  receive  only  a  harsh  refusal.  When  the  depu- 
tation returned  in  despair,  Valeria,  sister  of  Poplicola,  was  praying 
with  the  matrons  at  Jupiter's  temple.  As -if  by  an  inspiration,  she 
led  them  to  the  house  of  Coriolanus  and  prevailed  on  his  mother 
Veturia  to  endeavor  to  touch  the  heart  of  her  banished  son, 
whose  proud  spirit  had  not  been  broken  by  the  prayers  of  his 
country  and  his  gods.  At  the  approach  of  these  ladies,  Coriolanus 
maintained  his  fierce  aspect.  But  they  told  him  that  amongst  them 
were  his  aged  mother  and  his  young  wife  leading  her  two  children 
by  the  hand.     Too  Roman  still  to  fail  in  filial  respect,  he  advanced 

Dionj'S.,  vui.  62  :  "ASfxat  xai  vfive'irm  Trpor  ttuvtihv  wj  ficrf/3^f  Ka\  SUaios  avr^p.  Tllis 
legend  has  been  much  discussed,  and  Shakespeare  has  utilized  it,  without  clearly  sifting 
out  the  element  of  truth  it  contains.     [Was  this  to  be  expected? — Ed.'] 


310        •  ROME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

to  meet  Veturia,  and  ordered  tlie  fasces  to  be  lowered  in  her 
presence :  "  Am  I  face  to  face  with  my  son,  or  with  an  enemy  ? " 
said  the  dignified  matron.  The  wife  did  not  dare  to  speak,  but 
threw  herself  weeping  into  the  arms  of  her  husband,  and  his 
cliildren  clung  to  him  :  he  was  overcome,  and  withdrew.  The  Roman 
women  had  saved   Rome  tlie   second  time. 

The  story  is  beautiful,  but  scarcely  credible.  Tired  of  war 
and  laden  with  booty,  or  finding  that  resistance  grew  stronger 
as  they  approached  Rome,  the  Volscians  withdrew  to  their  cities. 
The  legend  adds  that  they  did  not  pardon  Coriolanus  for  thus 
stopping  them  in  the  middle  of  their  revenge,  and  that  they 
condemned  him  to  death.  According  to  Fabius,  he  lived  to 
an  advanced  age,  exclaiming :  "  Exile  is  very  hard  u2:>on  an  old 
man." 

We  can  hardly  refuse  to  believe  that  Rome  was  reduced  to 
the  last  extremities,  and  that  the  Volscians  were  established  in 
the  centre  of  Latiiun ;  Ijut  it  was  a  patrician  wlio  had  conquered, 
and  thus  honor  was  saved. 

Coriolanus,  on  his  part,  had  reason  to  find  a  stranger's  bread 
very  bitter,  for  exile  at  Rome  was  both  a  civil  and  religious 
excommunication.  The  exile  lost  not  only  his  country  and  prop- 
erty, but  his  household  gods,  his  wife,  who  had  the  right  of 
re-marrying,  his  children,  to  whom  he  became  a  stranger,  his 
ancestors,  who  were  no  longer  to  receive  funeral  sacrifices  at  his 
hands.     Our  civil  death  is  less  terrible.^ 

The  mountains  which  separate  the  basins  of  the  rivers  Liris 
and  Anio  descend  from  the  borders  of  Lake  Fucinus  to  Praeneste, 
where  they  terminate  at  Algidus  by  a  sort  of  promontory  which 
commands  the  plain  and  valley  of  the  Tiber.  By  following  the 
hidden  mountain  paths,  the  Aequians  could  reach  Mount  Algidus 
unperceived,  the  woods  of  which  still  covered  their  march  and 
ambuscades.^     Thence    they  burst  unexpectedly  on  the  Latin  lands  ; 

1  Cicero  wishes  that  he  couUl  be  put  to  death,  for  the  reason  that  this  is  a  more  suitable 
end  for  the  brave  :  Hu'ic  generi  mortis  potius  assentior  :  but  Atticus  answers  :  "  It  is  true  that 
rhetoricians  are  allowed  to  lie  in  history  if  their  art  gains  by  it ! "  (Concessunt  est  rhe.toribus 
ementiri  in  historiis  ut  aliquid  dicere  possint  argulius  !)  If  we  compare  this  with  what 
is  cited  from  Livy  above,  p.  185,  we  shall  find  that  these  Romans  had  a  strange  idea  of  the 
duties  of  an  historian. 

2  Nigrue  feraci  frondis  in  Algido.  A  few  years  ago  Algidus  was  still  the  haunt  of  brigands 
who  infested  the  neighborhood  of  Palestrina  and  Frescati. 


MILITARY  HISTORY   OF  ROME  FROM  495  TO  451.  311 

and  if  they  were  in  sufficient  numbers,  or  the  enemy  too  cautions, 
they  were  soon  in  the  midst  of  the  Roman  territory.  Every 
year  these  incursions  were  renewed.  It  was  not  war ;  but  it  would 
have  been  far  better  to  have  serious  engagements  than  these 
unceasing  acts  of  brigandage.  The  Latins  were  rendered  so  weak 
that  tlie  Aequians  were  able  to  take  several  of  their  cities.^  Ac- 
cordmg  to  the  treaty  of  Cassius,  Rome  was  bound  to  send  all 
their  forces  to  their  help.  Their  internal  dissensions  and  the 
dangers  they  ran  on  the  side  of  Veil,  kept  the  legions  in  the 
city  or  to  the  north  of  the  Tiber.  However,  the  Senate  felt 
alarmed  when  it  saw  the  Aequians  established  on  Mount  Algidus, 
and  the  Volsciaus  on  the  Alban  Mount,  separating  the  Latins  from 
the  Hernicans  and  threatening  two  peoples  at  the  same  time.^  A 
forty  years'  truce,  which  the  Veientes  had  just  signed  (474),  and 
the  adoption  of  the  Publiliau  law  (471),  by  ending  for  a  time 
the  Etruscan  war  and  the  troubles  of  the  Forum,  enabled  them 
to  listen  to  the  complaints  of  their  allies. 

Two  members  of  the  gens  Quinctia,  Capitolinus  and  Cincin- 
natus,  gained  the  honors  of  this  war. 

T.  Quinctius  Capitolinus,  a  popular  patrician',  had  been  the 
colleague  of  the  imperious  Appius.  While  the  Voleros  of  the 
latter  allowed  themselves  to  be  beaten  by  the  Volscians,  Quinctius 
seized  the  booty  gained  by  the  Aequians  and  re-entered  Rome 
with  the  title  of  Father  of  the  Soldiers.  Consul  a  second 
time  in  467,  he  took  possession  of  Antium,  a  part  of  whose 
territory  was  distributed  amongst  some  Roman  colonists,  and  he 
had  on  his  return  so  brilliant  a  triumph  that  he  obtained  the 
surname  of  Capitolinus.  The  Aequians  continued  in  arms.  Four 
times  then-  active  bands  audaciously  penetrated  into  the  Campagna 
of  Rome :  one  day  they  even  surrounded  the  consul  Fuvius  in 
a  narrow  gorge.  Two  legions  were  on  the  point  of  destruction : 
Capitolinus  saved  them.  At  the  news  of  the  danger,  the  Senate  had 
invested  the  other  consul  with  dictatorial  power  by  the  formula : 
Caveat   consul    ne    quid    detrimenti   respublica    capiat,   and    it   was 

1  In  the  legend,  all  these  towns,  even  Corbio,  beyond  the  Anio,  are  taken  by  the  Volsci ; 
all  the  successive  conquests  of  both  Volsci  and  Aequi  were  attributed  to  the  Roman  exile. 

^  These  two  mountains  are  the  watershed  between  the  basins  of  the  Tiber  and  the  Liris, 
and  they  dominate  the  whole  Latin  plain. 


312      ■  EOME   UNDER  THE  PATEICIAN  CONSULS. 

employed  only  to  cliarge  CapitoHnus  with  the  difficult  duty 
of    delivering  the  consular  army. 

Never  had  Rome,  since  Porsenna,  been  so  seriously  threat- 
ened ;  internal  troubles  had  begun  again  respecting  the  proposal 
of  Terentillus.  The  pestilence  was  raging  with  a  violence  so 
much  more  fatal  because  the  inroads  of  the  enemy  filled  the 
city,  during  the  heat  of  summer,  with  men  and  troops  accustomed 
to  the  pure  mountain  air.^  In  462  an  army  of  Aequians  and 
Volscians  encamped  only  three  miles  from  the  Esquiline  Gate ; 
three  years  later  a  night  attack  delivered  the  Capitol  for  a  moment 
into  the  hands  of  the  Sabine  Herdonius ;  the  year  following 
Antium  revolted,  and  the  consul  Minucius  allowed  himself  once 
more  to  be  shut  into  a  defile  by  the  Aequians.  Cincinnatus 
alone  seemed  able  to  save  the  Repuljlic.  He  retook  the  Cajaitol, 
and  restored  to  the  Romans  the  fortress  which  was  also  their 
sanctuary.  In  this  matter  he  made  himself  conspicuous  by  a 
severity  which  gained  the  confidence  of  the  Senate :  he  was  made 
dictator. 

The  senators  who  were  sent  to  inform  him  of  this  election 
found  him  across  the  Tiber  in  the  field  which  was  named  for  a 
long  time  the  meads  of  Quinctius.  He  was  digging  a  ditch,  and 
he  received  them  resting  on  his  spade.  After  the  accustomed  salu- 
tations, they  requested  him  to  assume  his  toga,  in  order  to 
receive  a  communication  from  the  Senate.  "He  is  astonished, 
asks  if  all  is  not  well,  and  sends  his  wife  Racilia  to  find  his 
toga  in  the  hut.  Having  put  it  on,  after  having  brushed  off 
the  dust  and  perspiration,  he  returns  to  the  deputies,  who  salute 
him  dictator,  present  their  congratulations,  and  press  him  to  return 
to  the  city."  ^  If  this  scene  is  not  historic,  it  is  at  least  accord- 
ing to  the  manners  of  the  time  and  the  character  of  the  man. 
What  follows  shows  the  patrician,  so  proud  of  his  descent, 
taking  possession  of  power  with  the  same  simplicity  which  he 
had  shown  in  quitting  his  plough  and  displaying  the  activity  and 
energy  of  men  born  to  command.  A  boat  awaited  him  on  the 
Tiber;  he  embarked  and  was  received  on  the  left  bank  by  his 
three   sons,   his   relatives,   and  the    greater    part   of    the    senators. 

»  Livy,  iii.  6.  2  Jbid.,  iji.  26. 


MILITARY   HISTORY   OF   ROME    FROM   495   TO   451. 


313 


Before  the  end  of  the  day  he  went  to  the  Forum,  and  then 
named  as  his  cavahy  chief  another  patrician  as  poor  as  himself, 
and  ordered  all  business  to  be  suspended,  all  shops  closed,  and 
all  men  aljle  to  take  arms  to  meet  on  the  Field  of  Mars  before 
sunset,  each  witli  five  stakes  and  enough  In-ead  for  five  days. 
Evening  being  come,  he  set  out    and  marched  six    leagues    in    four 


HOi^ 


hours ;  before  daybreak  the  Aequians  were  themselves  enclosed 
by  a  ditch  and  a  palisade  work :  they  were  coitipelled  to  pass 
under  the  yoke.  On  his  return  in  triumph  to  Rome,  followed 
by  the  consul  and  the  army  that  he  had  saved,  he  compelled 
Minucius  to  set  him  free  from  his  special  charge,  had  the 
consular  fasces^  broken  before  him,  and  on  the  seventh  day 
laid    down    the    dictatorship,    in    order   to   return  to  his  own  fields. 


^  Setia  Tvas  on  a  hill,  diificult  of  access,  which  rose  above  the  Pontine  Marshes  ;  the  town  of 
Sezze  has  kept  the  name„and  occupies  the  same  site. 

^  Dionj-s.,  X.  22  ;  Livy,  iii.  26-30:  Vi  majoris  imperii.  The  school  of  Niebuhr  regards  this 
story  as  legendary. 


314 


KOME   UNDER   THE   PATKICIAN   CONSULS. 


In  spite  of  this  success,  which  national  vanity  has  thus  em- 
bellished, as  is  the  case  in  so  many  other  points  of  Rome's 
military  history,  the  war  was  not  ended;  the  Aequians  kept 
possession  of  Algidus,  as  did  the  Volscians  of  the  Alban 
Mount. 

During  the  half  century  that  had  elapsed  surce  the  expulsion 
of  the  kings,  the  decadence  of  Rome's  power  was  not  arrested 
one   instant.     In    493    its   territory    was    at  least    protected  by  the 


RUINS    OF    A    TEMPLE    NEAR    SEZZE. 


Latins ;  but  of  the  thirty  Latin  cities  which  had  signed  the  treaty 
of  Cassius,  thirteen  were  now  either  destroyed  or  held  by  the 
enemy,  and  among  them  some  of  the  strongest  places  of  Italy, 
such  ,as  Circeii,  at  the  foot  of  its  promontory,  Setia,  Cora,  and 
Norba,'  all  three  in  the  mountains  of  the  Xo^scian  territories  and 
surrounded  by  strong  walls.  If  the  acjer  Ronianus  was  not  yet 
encroached  upon,  the  barrier  which  ought  to  have  protected  it  had 
been  partly  destroyed.  Was  Rome  more  fortunate  in  the  north 
against  the    Etruscans  ? 


'  Other  Latin   cities   taken  or  destroyed :  Velitrae,    Tolina,  Ortona,  Satricum,  Labicum, 
Pedum,  Corioli,  Carventum,  Corbio.     (Dionys.  and  Livy,  passim.') 


MILITARY   HISTORY   OF   ROME    FROM   497   TO   451.  315 


III.   War  against  Veil 

A  GREAT  part  of  Etruria  had  taken  part  in  the  expedition  of 
Porsenna ;  since  that  time  the  invasions  of  the  Cisalpine  Gauls 
and  the  increasing  power  of  the  Greeks  and  Carthaginians  had 
divided  the  attention  and  forces  of  the  Etruscan  cities ;  some  of 
them  watching,  on  the  north,  the  passes  of  the  Apennines ; 
others,  in  the  west,  on  the  coasts  threatened  by  the  Ligurian 
pirates,  and  on  the  southwest  over  their  own  colonies,  which,  one 
by  one,  were  slipping  from  their  hands.  The  old  league  was  dis- 
solved, and  all  idea  of  conquest  in  the  direction  of  Latium  had 
been  abandoned.  But  Veil,  at  a  distance  from  the  Gauls  and 
the  sea,  was  too  near  Rome  not  to  profit  by  its  weakness. 
The  war,  however,  did  not  break  out  till  482  B.  c.  It  lasted 
nine  years. 

Two  incidents  only  have  been  preserved  of  this  war,  far 
more  serious  for  Rome  than  the  incursions  of  the  Aequians  and 
Volscians,  —  the  foundation  by  the  Romans  of  a  fortress  on  the 
banks  of  the  Cremera,  from  whence  they  extended  their  ravages  for 
two  years  up  to  the  walls  of  Veil,  and  the  occupation  of  the 
Janiculum  by  the  Veientines.  We  have  already  seen  that  the 
Roman  annalists  do  great  honor  to  the  patriotic  devotion  of 
the  Fabii  for  having  held  in  check  all  the  enemy's  forces,  till  the 
day  when,  surprised  by  an  ambuscade,  the  whole  gens  perished.' 
The  Veientines  in  their  turn  burned  up  everything  along  both 
banks  of  the  Tiber,  and  established  themselves  on  the  Janiculum, 
from  whence  they  saw  Rome  at  their  {eet.  One  day  they  crossed 
the  stream  and  ventured  to  attack  the  legions  on  the  Field  of 
Mars.  A  vigorous  effort  repulsed  them  ;  the  next  day  they  were 
caught  between  two  consular  armies,  and  at  last  driven  from  the 
dangerous  post  which  they  held.  The  war  was  carried  up  to 
the  very  walls  of  Veii ;  a  forty  years'  truce  left  the  two  peoples 
in  the  position  which  they  held  before  hostilities  began  (474  b.  o.) 

In  this  Avar  Veii  had  not  been  supported  by  the  great 
lucumos    of   the    north,    whose    attention    was   at   that    time    called 

1  See  p.  294. 


316 


ROME   UNDER   THE   PATEICIAjST   CONSULS. 


elsewhere,  wliere  the  fate  of  their  rivals  was  l^eiiig  decided.  While 
in  fact  Rome  was  rehearsing  her  part  for  future  greatness  by 
these  obscure  contests,  and  for  the  pillage  of  the  world  by  the 
carrying  off  some  rustic  plunder,  the  armies  of  Xerxes  were 
shaking  Asia,  and  three  hundred  thousand  Carthaginians,  his  allies, 
made  a  descent  on  Sicily  (480).  The  ability  of  Themistocles  at 
Salamis  saved  Greece ;  that  of  Gelo  at  Himera  assured  the  welfare 
of  Syracuse  and  of  the  Italiot  Greelvs  who  disputed  with  the  Etrus- 
cans the  commerce  of  the  Tyrrhenian  Sea  and  the  Adriatic.  At 
first  the  Greeks  closed  against  them  the  Straits  of  Messina ;  then  in 
the  year  which  preceded  the  forty  years'  truce  they  annihilated  their 
fleet  in  the  vicinity  of  Cape  Misenum.^  Hiero  established  in  the  Isle 
of  Ischia  a  station  for  his  galleys,  which  cut  the  communications 
Ijetween  the  Etruscan  cities  of  the  Vulturnus  and  those  of  the 
Arno.  Thus  the  most  dangerous  enemies  of  the  ancient  subjects 
of  Porsenna  were  wasting  their  forces  in  these  distant  wars,  and 
this  enabled  the  Romans  to  indulge  with  impunity  in  all  the 
disorders  which  accompany  growing  liberty. 

During  these  first  years  of  the  Republic,  so  fruitful  for  Rome's 

institutions,  nothing   had  been   done   to  extend  its  power.      Rome, 

at   all   events,    had   lasted,    gaining    daily    streugth 

and  confidence.      Its   territory,    properly    so   called, 

had  not    been   imjDaired,   and   the   population    grew 

warlike  in  these    struggles    which   were    not   really 

dangerous.      The  soldiers  whom  Appius   decimated 

without   resistance,  whom  Cincinnatus  loaded  with 

five    stakes,  their   arms,    and   their   victuals,   for   a 

march  of  nearly  twenty  miles  in  four  hours,  were 

already    the    legionaries    who    could    conquer    the 

Samnites  and  Pyrrhus.     Rome  need  no  longer  fear 

for   her   existence,  as  in  the   time  of   Porsenna,  and   she   has   the 

right  to  great  expectations. 


1  See  p.  79. 

^  Cabinet  de  France,  No.  94  in  the  Catalogue :  cameo  of  archaic  style,  representing  Hope 
standing,  with  a  diadem,  lifting  up  the  skirt  of  lier  tunic  with  the  left  hand,  and  holding  in 
her  right  the  flower  which  promises  to  bear  fruit. 


llSilmTxun  AlkrCanina. 


SOUTHERN   ETRUKIA    (TERRITORY   OF    VEIl). 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE  DECEMVIES  AND  CIVIL  EQUALITY  (451-449). 

I.   Bill  ok  Terentilius. 

UP  to  the  time  of  Volero  and  Laetorius,  the  people  had  only 
won  the  means  of  fighting ;  and  the  struggle,  in  spite  of 
the  violences  which  had  already  taken  place,  had  not  yet  seriously 
begim.  The  aristocracy  preserve  all  the  ofiices  which  they  held 
after  the  exile  of  the  kings,  the  supreme  command,  the  magisterial 
offices,  religion,  justice ;  but  the  plebeians  were  formerly  without 
guidance  and  object :  now  their  chiefs  are  measuring  the  distance 
which  separates  them  from  power. 

The  internal  history  of  Rome  is  truly  of  an  admiraljle  simplicity. 
First  of  all,  an  aristocracy  which  forms  by  itself  the  whole  state, 
and  below,  far  below,  strangers,  fugitives,  men  without  family  and 
almost  without  gods.  But  then  the  plebeians,  used  as  instruments 
for  conquests,  see  their  number  as  well  as  their  worth  and  their 
strength  increase  by  these  conquests.  It  comes  to  pass  that  they 
help  the  nobles  to  drive  out  a  tyrant ;  next  day  they  ai'e  forgotten  : 
they  fly  to  the  Sacred  Mount  from  •  their  misery  and  servitude, 
and  discover  chiefs  who  discipline  this  mob,  hitherto  untrained, 
exercise  it  in  the  conflict,  and  gradually  arm  it  at  all  points. 
Presently  they  pass  from  the  defensive  to  attack  tlieir  foe. 

In  462  the  plebeians  demanded  the  revision  of  the  constitution 
and  a  written  code.^  This  was  too  much  to  ask  at  once,  for  they 
were  not  strong  enough  to  triumph  at  once.  So  then  victory 
was  gained  piecemeal,  so  to  speak,  and  needed  more  than  a  century 

*  Legihus  de  imperio  consulari  scrihcndh  (Livy,  iii.  9) ;  and  fjirther  on  (iii.  34)  :  Fon^ 
omnis  puhHci  privatique  est  juris  :  and  Dionys.,  x.  3  :  tovs  inrip  airavrav  vofiovs,  rav  re  Koiviiv 
Kai  Ttov  iSttov.     Lastly,  Zonaras,  vii.  18  :  rfjv  TroXtTfiau  laaiTtpav  notri<Ta(T0at,  fyjnj<fit{TavTO» 


320      .  EOME    UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

to  complete  it.  In  450  they  extorted  civil  equality ;  in  367  and 
339  political  equality ;  in  300,  religious  equality.  The  decemvirate 
was   the    conquest   of   equality  in    civil    and    penal    law. 

In  the  constitution  nothing  was  written  or  determined ;  no  one 
knew  where  the  jurisdiction  of  the  magisti'ates,  where  the  powers 
of  the  Senate  ceased.  Law  was  not  right,  rectum,  or,  as  the  jrnis- 
consults  of  the  Empire  defined  it,  the  gQod  and  the  just,  ars  boni 
et  aequi :  it  was  the  order  imperiously  given,  jus,  by  the  stronger 
to  the  weaker,  by  the  priest  to  the  layman,  by  the  husl^and  to  the 
wife  and  children.'  Besides,  to  fulfil  their  duty,  to  protect  the 
plebeians  against  iniquitous  handling  of  the  law,  the  tribunes 
needed  to  know  it,  and  it  continued  in  the  uncertain  and  floating 
state  of  custom.  The  judge  gave  sentence,  "  according  to  the  usage 
of  their  ancestors,"  ex  more  m.qjorum,  that  is,  after  the  particular 
law  of  an  ancient  sovereign  people  of  whom  the  new  people  knew 
nothing.  The  tribune  C.  Terentilius  Arsa  was  determined  to  destroy 
this  uncertainty  and  the  arbitrary  conduct  it  authorized.  Aljan- 
doning  the  agrarian  law,  which  was  becoming  stale,  he  demanded 
in  462  that  five  men  should  be  nominated  to  draw  up  a  code  of 
laws,  which  should  determine,  by  limiting  it,  the  power  of  the 
consuls.^  A  plebiscitum  had  no  force  over  the  j^ojndus ;  the  Senate 
was  then  able  to  avoid  considering  this  proposition,  but  it  at- 
tempted to  stop  the  triljune  liy  the  veto  of  one  of  his  colleagues. 
But  they  had  all  sworn  to  remain  united,  and  neither  threats  nor 
evil   omens  could  turn  them  from  their  purpose. 

The  leader  of  these  acts  of  patrician  violence  was  the  son 
of  Cincinnatus,  Caeso,  a  young  man  proud  of  his  power,  his 
exploits,  and  his  high  rank.  At  the  head  of  the  young  pa- 
tricians he  disturbed  the  deliberations,  attacked  the  crowd,  and 
more  than  once  drove  the  tribunes  from  the  Forum.  This  man 
seemed  to  contain  in  himself  all  dictatorships  and  consulates, 
and  his  audacity  made  the  tribunitian  power  useless.  A  tribune 
dared  nevertheless  to  make  use  of  the  Julian  law.  Virginius 
accused    Caeso   of   having    struck   one   of    his    colleagues    in    spite 

'  For  the  aristocratic  idea  of  order,  yu.v  Irom  juheo,  we  liave  substituted  the  idea  of  justice. 
The  French  word  droit  comes  from  the  Latin  rcrium  and  directum,  in  Italian  direttu,  in  Spanish 
derecho,  in  German  rccht,  in  English  ri;/hl,  among  the  Scandinavians  ret.  The  Slavs  start  from 
another  idea,  nut  that  of  rectitude,  but  of  truth,  prauoda. 

^  Livy,  iii.  9. 


DECEMVIRS   AND   CIVIL   EQUALITY   FROM   451   TO   440.       321 

of  liis  inviolable  office,  and  a  plebeian '  bore  witness  that  lie  bad 
knocked  down,  on  tlie  SulMiran  road,  an  old  man,  bis  brotber, 
wbo  died  some  days  after  of  bis  wounds.  Tbe  people  were 
niucb  excited  by  tbis  murder,  and  Caeso,  set  free  on  bail,  would 
bave  I)een  condeunied  to  deatb  at  tbe  next  comitia,  bad  be  not 
voluntarily  gone  into  exile  to  Etruria.  He  bad  been  compelled 
to  find  bail  to  tbe  amount  of  30,000  lbs.  of  bronze  ;  to  pay  it, 
Cincinnatus  sold  all  bis  property  except  four  acres  (4G1  B.c.).^ 

Like  Coriolanus,  Caeso  determined  to  be  avenged,  and  tbe  tri- 
bunes came  one  day  to  denounce  before  tbe  Senate  a  conspiracy 
he  bad  organized.  Tbe  Capitol  was  to  be  surprised,  tbe  tribunes 
and  cbiefs  of  tbe  people  to  be  massacred,  tbe  sacred  laws 
abolisbed.  Tbe  Capitol  was  in  fact,  in  tbe  following  year, 
seized  during  tbe  nigbt  by  tbe  Sabine  Herdonius,  at  tbe  bead 
of  4,000  adventurers,  slaves  or  exiles,  among  wbom  probably  was 
Caeso  (460)."  Tbis  bold  stroke  frigbtened  tbe  Senate  as  much  as 
tbe  people,  to  wbom  tbe  consul  Valerius  promised  tbe  acceptance 
of  tbe  Terentilian  bill  in  return  for  tbeir  help.  Tbe  Capitol  was 
retaken  by  tbe  aid  of  tbe  dictator  of  Tusculum,  C.  Mamilius,^ 
and  not  one  escaped  of  all  tbose  wbo  were  bolding  it.  But 
Valerius,  tbe  popular  consul,  bad  fallen  during  tbe  attack,  and 
was  replaced  by  Cinciimatus,  wbo  tbougbt  tbe  Senate  released 
from  its  promises  by  bis  death.  ''  So  long  as  I  am  consul," 
said  be  to  the  tribunes,  "your  law  shall  not  pass,  and  before 
leavmg  office  I  will  nominate  a  dictator.  To-morrow  I  lead  the 
army  against  the  Aequians."  They  announced  tbeir  opposition  to 
the  enrolment.  "  I  do  not  want  fresh  soldiers ;  the  legionaries 
of  Valerius  have  not  been  disbanded ;  they  will  follow  me  to 
Algidus."  He  wished  to  take  tbe  augui's  there,  in  order  that 
they  might  consecrate  a  place  for  deliberation  and  compel  the 
army,  as  representative  of  the  people,  to  revoke  all  the  tribuni- 
tian  laws.*  Tbe  Senate  dared  not  follow  tbeir  consul  in  this 
violent  reaction.     They    merely   rejected    the    law ;    but  the   same 

'  Livy,  iji.  13;  Dionys.,  x.  4-8. 

^  Dionys.,  x.  9,  14;  Livy,  iii.  15  :  Iribunorum  interficiendoruin,  trucidandae  plebis. 

^  lie  received,  in  recompense,  the  freedom  of  the  city.  It  was,  without  doubt,  a  descend- 
ant of  Tarquinius  Superbus,  who  had  a  son-in-law  a  dictator  of  Tusculum ;  his  family  was 
reckoned  among  the  more  illustrious  plebeian  families. 

*  Livy,  iii.  20. 

VOL.   I.  21 


322       •  EOME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

tribunes  were  re-elected  for  the  third  time.  So  they  were  in  the 
years  following,  up  to  the  fifth  time ;  and  with  them  was  brought 
forward  the  hateful  bill,  in  spite  of  a  new  dictatorship  of  Cin- 
cinnatus,  who  employed  his  authority  to  exile  without  appeal  the 
accuser  of  his  son  (458  b.  c). 

This  state  of  things  kept  men's  minds  in  such  a  continual 
ferment,  that  the  Senate  thought  it  prudent  to  consent  to  nomi- 
nating for  the  future  ten  tribunes,  two  for  each  class  (457).  The 
people,  aljove  all  those  of  the  lower  classes,  expected  from  this 
increase  more  efficacious  protection,  the  patricians  greater  facility 
for  bribmg  some  members  of  the  college.  Other  concessions 
followed. 

In  456  the  tribune  Icilius  demanded  that  the  lands  of  the 
public  domain  on  the  Aventine  should  be  distributed  among  the 
people.^  In  vain  the  patricians  troubled  the  assembly  and  upset 
the  voting-urns  ;  the  tribunes,  supported  liy  the  brave  Sicinius  Den- 
tatus,  condemned  several  young  patricians  to  confiscation  of  their 
property  as  authors  of  these  violent  acts.  The  Senate  secretly 
bought  back  their  lands  and  restored  them.  But  the  tribunes 
had  proved  their  strength ;  they  secured  the  acceptance  of  the  law 
by  the  tribes,  compelled  the  consuls  to  take  it  to  the  Senate, 
and  Icilius  obtained  the  right  to  enter  the  cvuia  to  defend  his 
.plebiscite.  From  this  innovation  .sprang  the  right  for  the  tribunes 
to  sit  and  speak  in  that  assembly;  later  on,  they  had  even,  as 
had  the  consuls  and  praetors,  that  of  calluig  it  together.^  The 
law  passed.  Many  of  the  poor  who  lived  outside  the  city  went 
to  live  on  the  Aventine,  and  the  force  of  the  plebs  increased  by 
the  number  of  those  who  were  able  to  hurry  to  the  Forum  at 
the  first  call  of  the  tribunes.  The  popular  hill  was  covered  with 
plebeian  houses.  The  citizens  too  poor  to  build  one  from  their  own 
resources  united  with  others ;  each  flat  had  in  this  way  its  pro- 
prietor, —  a  custom  which  still  exists  at  Rome,  in  Corsica,  and  even 
in    some    cities    of    France.     As    the    public    domain    retained    not 

1  Dionys.,  x.  31.  The  condition  of  ager  publicus,  preserved  by  the  Aventine  up  to  456, 
contradicts  the  tradition  relative  to  the  establishment,  on  this  hiU,  of  the  Latins  conquered  by 
Ancus.     (Cf.  p.   156.) 

-  AVe  see  them,  after  the  decemvirs,  in  full  possession  of  tliis  right.  Cf.  Livy,  iii-  69 ; 
V.  1,  2,  3,  6,  2G,  36,  etc.  Trihunis  plehin  .tenatns  habendi  jus  erat,  quamquam  senalores  non 
essent,  ante  Alinium  plchlscituia.    (Aul.  GcU.,  xiv.  8.) 


DECEMVIKH    AM)   CIVIL   EQUALITY  FROM   451    TO   449.      323 

a  foot  of   soil,  thero   tlic   patricians  could  not   stay  ;    and   this  lull 

became  a  sort  of  fortress   of  the  people.  Under  the  decemvir.s   it 
was  the  asylum  of  pleljoian  lilierty.' 


WALL   OF    Till-;    AVKNTINE.- 


In  454  a  law  presented  to  the  centuries  by  the  consul  Ater- 
nius  recognized  in  all  the  magistrates,  even  in  the  tribunes  and 
aediles,  the   right    of   punishing  by   fine    those  who    did  not    show 

1  The  Tcilian  law  was  placed  aiiionc;  the  number  of  the  ler/cx  siirratae,  following  Lhy  (iii. 
32);  but  Lanf;e  (liiimisclie  AlUrtJiumer,  i.  51!)  and  53'i)  thinks  with  reason  that  Livv  has  con- 
founded this  kx  Icilia  with  the  Icilian  |ilcbiscituni  of  471,  which  was  in  fact  a  lex  sacrnta. 
(See  p.  297,  n.  3.)  LTp  to  that  time  a  great  number  of  plebeians  inhabited,  as  tenants,  houses 
belonging  to  the  patricians;  the  latter  lost  by  this  law  the  influence  they  used  to  exercise, 
under  the  title  of  landlords,  over  a  certain  number  of  the  plebs. 

-  After  a  jihotogi-aph  by  Parker.  The  Aventine,  f(3rmerly  covered  with  temples  and 
thickly  populated,  would  be  a  mere  solitude  without  two  or  three  convents  which  rise  on  it 
above  the  Tiber. 


324       .  EOME   UNDER   THE   PATKICIAJST   CONSULS. 

to  them  the  respect  and  obedience  which  their  office  demanded.^ 
The  lowest  fine  was  fixed  at  one  slieep,  and  the  maxiinnm,  wliich 
could  be  reached  only  by  an  increase  of  a  head  for  each  day  of 
refusal,  at  two  oxen  and  thirty  sheep.  At  the  same  time  this 
law  put  a  limit  to  the  arbitrary  manner  in  which  the  consuls 
had  up  to  tliat  time  fixed  the  amount  of  the  fines. 

A  short  time  after  an  official  coinage  began.  The  state  had 
at  first  only  certified  the  quality  of  the  metaP  by  stamping  the 
pieces  of  bronze,  aes,  the  weight  of  which  was  afterward  deter- 
mined by  the  buyer's  balance,  whence  the  form  of  purchase  called 
mancipatio  per  aes  et  librani  .•  ^  "I  take  this  object  bought  with 
this  bronze  duly  weighed."  To  this  first  warranty  there  was 
added  another  in  the  time  of  the  decemvirs,*  —  the  evidence  of 
weight ;  they  ran  in  a  mould  pieces  of  bronze  of  a  circular  form, 
bound  to  weigh  twelve  ounces.^  This  was  the  as  lihrale,  which 
carried  a  stamp  with  a  figure  indicating  its  value,  and  which  was 
divided  as  follows  :  — 


As             =1 

pound, 

bear 

ing 

the  liead  of  Janus. 

Semis         =  ^ 

jj 

Jupiter. 

Trieiis        =  J 

» 

Minerva. 

Quadrans  =  \ 

» 

Hercules. 

Sextans     =  J- 

« 

Mercury. 

Uncia        =  ounce 

tV 

J) 

Eome. 

The  appearance  of  money  is  one  of  the  great  events  in  history. 
For  more  than  a  century  and  a  half,  to  the  year  2G8  B.  c.  the 
Romans  were  satisfied  with   their  heavy  bronze  money,  while  for 


^  Dionys.,  x.  50 ;  Cic,  de  Rep.  ii.  35. 

^  The  primitive  bronze  was  of  almost  pure  copper :  93.70  of  co])per  and  6.30  of  tin. 

2  The  Roman  jjound,  which  was  divided  into  12  ounces,  weighed  327.4  grammes. 

*  In  the  Twelve  Tables  the  penalties  are  given  in  uses ;  cf.  Gains,  iii.  223. 

^  It  is  beUeved  that  no  single  as  reached  this  weight ;  the  greater  number  in  reality 
weighed  9  to  10  ounces.  But  in  1852  there  were  found  at  Cervetri  1575  uses,  many  of  which 
weighed  312  grammes;  whence  it  must  be  inferred  that  the  greater  part  of  the  ancient  uses 
had  about  the  normal  weight  (see  p.  630,  No.  2).  Respecting  the  successive  reductions  of 
the  weight  of  the  as,  which  fell  to  4  ounces  at  the  end  of  the  Saranite  War;  to  2  ounces 
at  the  end  of  the  First  Punic  War;  to  1  ounce  in  217;  and  later  on  to  ^,  j,  during  the 
early  Empire;  even  in  the  middle  of  the  3d  century  to  ^  and  -^-^  of  an  ounce,  —  see  Pliny, 
Hist.  Nat.  xxxiii.  5 ;  Festus,  s.  v.  Sextantarii  uses ;  Mommsen,  Hist,  of  Rom.  Money ;  and 
Marquardt,  Handb.  ii.  p.  9  el  secj.  It  is  easy  to  tell  by  a  cursory  inspection  of  the  table 
on  p.  630  and  by  the  finish  of  the  work  of  the  stamjied  uses,  tliat  these  coins  are  of  much 
later  date  than  the  ases  which  were  cast.  The  former  date,  in  fact,  only  from  the  second 
century  b.  c. 


DECEMVIRS   AND   CIVIL   EQUALITY   FROM   459   TO   449.       325 


a  long  time  Greece,  Sicily,  and  South  Italy  were  coining  silver 
monc}',  which  is  the  most  beautiful  yet  known.  How  wretched  the 
commerce  for  which  such  means  of  exchange  sufficed !  Let  the  as 
cast' at  Rome  be  compared  with  tlie  coins  of  Tlnirii  and  Syracuse, 
and  we  can  measure  the  distance  which  then  separated  the  Romans 
from  the  Greeks  ! 

The  division  of  the  lands  of  the  Aventine  was  a  true  agrarian 
law,  and  the  lex  Aternia  repressed  one  of  the  most  crying  abuses^ 
which  Terentilius  had  attacked.  The  Senate 
hoped  in  this  way  to  impose  upon  the  people, 
and  to  delay,  by  these  partial  satisfactions, 
two  formidable  demands,  the  agrarian  law  and 
the  lex  Terentilia.  But  the  tribunes  would 
not  tolerate  either  truce  or  respite  ;  the  two 
proposals  were  immediately  resumed,  and  to 
get  them  passed  there  was  elected  to  the 
tribunate  the  most  renowned  and  popular  of 
the  plebeians,  Sicinius  Dentatus,  an  old  centurion  who  had  been 
present  in  120  battles,  followed  9  triumphs,  slain  8  of  the  enemy 
in  single  combat,  received  45  wounds,  all  in  front, 
earned  183  necklaces,  160  gold  bi-acelets,  18  lances, 
25  suits  of  armor,  and  lastly  14  civic  crowns  for 
the  same  number  of  citizens  whom  he  had  saved. ^ 
Employing  a  means  of  intimidation  which  his  pre- 
decessors had  already  employed,  Sicinius  condemned 
two  consuls  to  fines.  The  Senate  saw  the  necessity  of  giving  up 
force  without  excluding  diplomacy,  in  order  to  divert  the  revolution. 
It  accepted  the  proposition  of  Terentilius,  which  the  tribunes  had 
changed  into  a  demand  for  a  complete  revision  of  the  constitution.® 
One  of  the  consulars  condemned,  Romilius,  had  supported  the 
bill,  no  doubt   hoping   that   the   new   legislation   would   take    from 


CIVIC    CKOWN    WITH 
LAUREL    LEAVES.'^ 


CIVIC    CROWN.* 


*  The  importance  of  this  law  will  be  felt  if  wc  recall  the  effect  that  was  produced  in 
England  by  the  penalties  enforced  by  the  Government  of  Charles  I.  At  Rome  in  430  the 
penalties  in  kind  were  converted  into  penalties  in  money. 

2  OB   CIVIS   SERVATOS,  a  large  bronze  of  Augustus' tune. 
'  Aul.  Gell.,  ii.  11.;  Dionys.,  x.  37. 

*  AVGVSTO  OB  C.S.  (oi  cities  servatos)  in  a  crown  of  oak.  Reverse  of  a  gold  coin  of 
the  family  Petrnnia. 

^  The  lawgivers  were  to  seek  quae  aequandae  libertatis  essent.     (Livy,  iii.  3.) 


326     .  KO.ME   UNDER   THE   TATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

the  hands  of  the  tribunes,  if  it  did  not  destroy  the  tribunate 
itself,  this  terrible  right  of  accusation  before  the  people.^  The 
astonished  Dentatus  praised  his  courage,  abjured  their  old  hatred, 
and  in  the  name  of  the  people  remitted  the  penalty  which  ought 
to  have  been  paid  into  the  treasury  of  Ceres.  "  This  money," 
replied  Romilius,  "  belongs  now  to  the  gods ;  no  one  has  the 
right  to  dispose  of  it ; "  and  he  refused  the  boon. 

However,  three  commissioners  were  named,  Sp.  Postumius, 
A.  Manlius,  and  P.  Sulpicius,  to  go,  perhaps  to  Athens,^  at  any 
rate  to  the  Greek  cities  of  Italy,  to  collect  the  best  laws.  To 
give  the  strangers  a  high  idea  of  the  Roman  people,  the  quaestors 
caused  the  vessels  in  which  the  ambassadors  sailed  to  be  richly 
decorated. 

Rome  was  at  peace  during  the  absence  of  the  three  deputies. 
On  their  return  (452)  some  discussion  arose  respectmg  the  com- 
position of  the  legislative  commission.  This  was  where  the  nobles 
determined  to  face  the  tribunes.  The  question  was  indeed  very 
serious,  for  all  antiquity  thought  that  the  legislator  ought  to  be 
invested  with  unlimited  power.  The  consuls,  the  tribunes,  the 
aediles,  the  quaestors  were  then  to  give  way  to  ten  magistrates 
charged  with  drawing  up  the  new  code.  The  most  precious  of  the 
republican  conquests,  the  provocatio,  was  even  suspended ;  but  the 
rights  acquired  by  the  plebeians  during  the  last  50  years  were 
reserved !  ^  Besides,  before  the  new  laws  could  be  put  in  force  they 
would  have  to  receive  the  approbation  of  the  Senate  and  the 
sanction  of  the  people.  Rome  did  not  then  give  up  her  liberties. 
In  pleading  their  acquaintance  with  law,  the  patricians  kept  the 
ten  jjlaces  of  legislators  for  themselves.  This  first  choice  decided 
that  the  reform  should  not  have  a  political  character. 


'  Dionys.,  x.  48  and  58. 

-  Livy  afBrms  it,  Alticis  kgihus  (iii.  32)  ;  Tacitus  {Ann.  iii.  27)  says  only  .  .  .  e.t  accitis 
quae  usquam  cgregia.  [The  nature  and  duties  of  tlie  censorship  (t-f.  below,  p.  345,  •'<?'/•)  make 
it  very  probable  that  the  financial  measures  of  the  decemvirs  were  borrowed  directly  from  those 
adopted  by  the  Athenians,  who  then  ruled  over  a  great  maritime  power.  —  Ed.J 

3  The  law  de  Acenlino  publicando  and  the  leges  sacralae  were,  however,  removed  from 
the  right  of  general  revision  granted  to  the  decemvirs.  The  sentence  was  terrible  for 
any  who  should  have  violated  these  laws :  Sacer  alicui  deormn  sU  cum  J'aiiulia  pecuniaque. 
(Cf .  Fest.,  s.  v.,  and  Livy,  iii.  32.) 


DECEMVIRS  AND  CIVIL  EQUALITY   FKOM  451  TO  449.     327 


n.   The  Decemvirs  (451-449). 

In  the  year  451  b.  c,  on  the  Ides  of  Ma}^,  the  decemvirs,  who  had 
all  served  as  consuls,  entered  on  their  duties.  They  were :  App. 
Claudius,  T.  Genucius,  P.  Sestius,  T.  Romilius,  C.  Julius,  T.  Veturius, 
P.  Horatius,  and  the  three  commissioners.^  Each  day  one  of  them 
held  the  presidency,  the  government  of  the  city,  and  the  twelve 
lictors.  Unanimous  in  their  acts,  just  and  affable  towards  all, 
they  kept  the  Republic  in  a  state  of  profound  peace,  diminishing 
rather  than  exceeding  theh  powers.  A  dead  body  had  been  found 
in  the  house  of  the  patrician  Sestius ;  not  only  did  the  decemvir 
Julius  follow  up  the  prosecution,  but  though  he  had  the  right  of 
judgment  without  appeal,  he  sent  the  case  to  the  people's  assembly. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  year,  ten  tables  were  set  up  in  the  Forum, 
that  any  one  might  propose  amendments,  to  be  afterward  reviewed 
by  the  decemvirs,  then  approved  by  the  Senate,  accepted  in  the 
comitia  centuriata,  and  sanctioned  by  the  Curiae  under  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Pontifex  Maximus.  The  gods  seemed  to  give  their 
assent  by  sending  favoi'able  auguries. 

These  ten  tables  were  the  old  customs  of  Rome,  or  of  primitive 
Italy,  modified  by  some  things  borrowed  from  the  legislation  of 
the  Greek  cities,  which  the  Ephesian  Hermodorus  had  explained 
to  the  decemvirs.^ 

However,  the  code  was  not  yet  complete.  In  order  to  finish 
it,  the  powers  of  the  legislative  commission  were  continued,  but 
with  the  aid  of  other  men,  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  Roman 
constitution.  Among  the  resigning  decemvirs  was  Appius  Claudius, 
who  during  the  first  year  had  concealed  his  pride  and  ambition 
under  popular  appearances.  Called  upon  to  preside  at  the  comitia 
of  election,  he  opposed  the  candidature  of  Cincinnatus  and  Capito- 
linus,  whom  he  would  not  have  been  able  to  mould  to  his  designs, 

^  I  follow  Dionysius ;  the  list  in  Livy  differs  somewhat. 

-  As  a  reward,  they  erected  a  statue  to  Hermodorus  in  the  Comitium.  He  had  been 
exiled  from  Ephesus  by  the  jealousy  of  the  populace,  who  had  caused  this  law  to  be  passed : 
Nemo  de  nobis  vnus  excMat ;  sin  quis  exstiteril ,  alio  in  loco  et  ajmd  alios  sit.  IleracUtus  said 
that  by  reason  of  this  decree :  unirersos  Ephesios  esse  morte  mulclandos.  (Cic,  Tusc.  v.  .3G.) 
Envy  is  at  the  root  of  every  democracy. 


328     .  ROME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

and  only  allowed  those  to  be  nominated  who  were  devoted  to  him. 
He  did  not  fear  to  collect  votes  for  himself,  though,  as  president 
of  the  comitia,  custom  forl^ade  his  re-election.  His  new  colleagues, 
obscure  men,  submitted  to  his  ascendency.  Preceded  by  120  lictors 
[an  innovation],  with  the  rods  and  axes,  they  seemed  to  be  ten 
kings,^  and  they  were  so  in  pride. 

Like  their  predecessors,  they  were  unanimous,  for  they  had 
mutually  promised  that  the  opposition  of  none  of  them  should 
check  the  acts  of  his  colleagues ;  ^  and  this  agreement  consolidated 
their  power.  Henceforth,  the  fortune,  honor,  and  the  lives  of 
the  citizens  were  at  their  mercy.  The  Senate  might  now  have 
played  a  splendid  part,  that  of  defending  the  public  liberties.  It 
preferred  giving  way  to  the  old  spirit  of  rancor,  and  hailed  this 
tyranny  arising  from  a  popular  law.  The  patrician  youth,  for  a 
long  time  accustomed,  under  Appius  and  Caeso,  to  violence,  became 
for  the  city  a  sort  of  decemviral  army,  and  the  senators,  deserting 
their  posts  in  the  senate-house,  retired  to  their  country  houses. 

However,  the  decemvirs  jDublished  two  new  tables,  "  filled," 
says  Cicero,^  "with  unjust  laws,"  and  the  year  ended  without 
their  expressing  any  intention  of  abdicating.  Rome  had  given 
herself  masters.  There  existed,  in  fact,  no  legal  means  of  depriving 
a  magistrate  of  his  imperium,  if  he  did  not,  of  his  own  accord, 
come  to  the  Forum  and  declare  tluit  he  resigned  his  office,  and 
swear  that  he  had  done  nothing  contrary  to  the  laws :  jurare  in 
leges.  Fortunately,  the  Sabmes  and  Aequians  renewed  the  war. 
The  Senate  had  to  be  convoked. 

Free  states,  which  change  character  and  sentiments  by  force  of 
external  or  short-lived  impulses,  owe  their  stability  to  the  existence 
of  houses  in  which  the  principles  and  opinions  of  their  forefathers 
are  perpetuated,  as  a  heritage  transmitted  to  the  latest  posterity. 
The  popular  patricians  did  not  on  this  occasion  fall  short  of  their 
name.  A  Valerius  rose,  as  soon  as  the  session  was  opened,  and 
in  spite  of  Appius,  who  refused  to  let  him  speak,  he  denounced 
the  conspiracy  formed  against  liberty.  "  These  are  the  Valerii  and 
Horatii  who    expelled   the    kings,"  said  Horatius  Barbatus;    "their 

'  Dionys.  (x.  58)  pretends  that  throe  were  plebeians  ;  Livy  (v.  7)  makes  them  all  patricians. 

^  Livy,  iii.  36  :  'intercessionem  consensu  sustulerant. 

*  De  Rep.  ii.  37:  iluabics  tahulis  inujuarmii  lef/um  addilis. 


DECEMVIES   AJSTD   CIVIL   EQUALITY    FROM   451   TO   449.       329 

descendants  will  not  stoop  their  head  under  the  Tarquins."  The 
deceinvii\s  interrupted  and  threatened  him  ;  they  threatened  to  hurl 
him  from  the  Tarpeian  rock ;  but  even  the  uncle  of  Appius  declared 
against  him.  Still  timid  counsels  prevailed,  and,  at  the  end  of  a 
stormy  sitting,  ten  legions  were  intrusted  to  the  decemvirs.  Two 
armies  left  Rome;  being  badly  led,  and  disloyal  to  their  chiefs, 
they  were  beaten.  In  one  Dentatus  served,  who  did  not  hide  his 
hate.  In  order  to  get  rid  of  him,  the  decemvirs  sent  him  to 
choose  a  site  for  a  camp,  and  gave  him  as  escort  some  soldiers 
ordered  to  assassinate  him.  The  Roman  Achilles  onl}'  succumbed 
after  having  killed  fifteen  of  the  traitors.  The  report  was  circulated 
that  he  had  jierislied  in  an  ambuscade ;  but  no  one  doubted  that 
he  had  been  sacrificed  to  the  fears  of  the  decemvirs.  Another  crime 
at  last  brought  about  their  fall. 

From  the  elevation  of  his  tribunal  Appius?  had  seen,  several 
times,  a  beautiful  young  girl,  hardly  grown  up,  going  to  one  of 
the  public  schools,  held  by  freedmen  in  the  Forum ;  and  a  criminal 
passion  seized  him.  She  was  the  daughter  of  one  of  the  highest 
plebeians,  Virginius,  who  was  then  with  the  army  of  Algidus,  and 
the  affianced  of  the  former  tribune  Icilius.  The  decemvir  suborned 
one  of  his  clients,  Marcus  Claudius,  and  charged  him  to  lay 
before  him  a  suit  which  would  bring  Virginia  mto  his  power.  The 
scene  is  very  Roman,  and  well  told  by  Livy.  No  seduction,  no 
abduction  or  open  violence :  the  iniquity  is  accomplished  with  the 
observance  of  legal  foi-ms  which  disguise  the  violation  of  the  law. 
A  stranger,  ignorant  of  the  real  motive  of  the  suit,  would  have 
admired  in  Appius  the  imperturbable  magistrate  in  the  midst  of 
popular  clamor. 

One  day  Claudius  seized  the  maiden  under  pretence  that  she, 
being  the  child  of  one  of  his  slaves,  belonged  to  him.  The  tears 
of  Virginia,  the  cries  of  her  nurse,  stirred  up  the  crowd.  Her 
father's  friends  pi'otested  agauist  this  insolent  and  false  pretence ; 
but  Claudius  called  on  Appius  to  have  his  rights  respected,  and  the 
iniquitous  judge,  contrary  to  the  very  law  which  he  had  himself 
passed,  adjudged  provisional  possession  to  his  accomplice.  Icilius 
cried  out,  and  the  crowd  grew  agitated  ;  Appius,  with  a  hypocritical 
appearance  of  legality,  consented  to  let  Virginia  free  till  the 
morrow,  to  hear  the  father's  deposition,  and  determine  the  question 


330     ■  KOME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

of  her  paternity.  But  at  the  same  time  lie  despatched  a  secret 
emissary  to  the  chiefs  of  the  legions  of  the  Algidus  to  enjoin 
them  to  prevent  Virginius  leaving  the  camp.  The  friends  of 
Icilius  forestalled  the  messenger,  and  in  the  morning  the  father 
was  at  the  Forum  with  his  daughter  and  neighbors  dressed  in 
mourning.  His  presence  did  not  stop  Appius.  All  the  available 
fighting  men  were  in  the  armies  ;  m  Rome  there  remained  only 
women,  old  men,  and  infants ;  and  the  decemvir  believed  that  his 
lictors  and  clients  would  be  able  to  keep  in  check  this  timid 
crowd.  So  when  Claudius  had  explained  his  case,  he  declared, 
without  allowing  the  father  to  speak,  that  the  proof  was  complete, 
and  that  Virginia  was  a  slave.  Claudius  wished  to  carry  her  off ; 
the  women  who  surrounded  the  damsel  repulsed  him,  and  Vir- 
ginius, raising  against  Appius  his  arms  menacingly,  cries :  "  It  is 
to  Icilius  that  I  have  affianced  my  child,  and  not  to  you !  It  is 
for  marriage,  and  not  for  shame,  that  I  have  brought  her  up ! " 
And  he  added,  pointing  to  the  unarmed  citizens :  "  Will  you 
permit  it  ?  Perhaps ;  but  surely  those  who  have  arms  will 
not !  " 

Appius,  carrying  out  his  part  as  magistrate  occupied  only 
with  administering  justice  and  order  in  the  city,  deigns  to  answer. 
"  Secret  meetings,"  said  he,  "  are  held  the  whole  night  long  in  the 
city  to  stir  up  sedition ;  I  know  it,  not  by  the  insults  of  Icilius 
yesterday,  by  the  violence  of  Virginius  to-day,  but  by  sure  proofs. 
Therefore  I  am  prepared  for  the  struggle,  and  have  come  down  to 
the  Forum  with  men-at-arms  to  check,  in  a  manner  worthy  of  my 
powers,  those  who  disturb  the  public  peace."  And  he  ended  by 
saying :  "  Citizens,  keep  quiet,  it  is  the  wisest  course ;  and  you, 
hctor,  go,  disperse  the  crowd,  and  make  way  for  the  master  to 
seize  his  slave." 

At  these  threatening  words  the  multitude  dispersed  of  its 
own  accord.  Then  Virginius,  despairing  of  aid,  addressed  the 
decemvir :  "  Appius,"  said  he,  "  pardon  the  grief  of  a  father, 
and  permit  me,  here  in  the  presence  of  my  child,  to  ask  her 
nurse  the  whole  truth ! "  And  he  led  Virgmia  towards  a  comer 
of  the  Forum  where  was  a  butcher's  stall :  he  takes  up  from  it  a 
knife,  and  strikes  her  to  the  heart,  preferring  to  see  her  dead 
than    dishonored ;    then,    covered   with    her   blood,    he   fled   to   the 


DECEMVIKS   AND   CIVIL   EQUALITY   FROM  451   TO   449.       331 

army  encamped  on  Algidus.  The  soldiers  rose  in  revolt,  marched 
upon  Kome,  where  they  seized  the  Aventine,  and  then,  followed 
by  all  the  people,  united  on  the  Sacred  Mount  with  the  legions 
of   the   Sabine  army. 

For  some  time  the  decemvirs  hesitated,  supported  by  a  party 
in  the  Senate  who  dreaded  the  results  of  a  plebeian  revolution. 
But  if  it  had  been  necessary  to  yield  forty-six  years  before, 
when  the  patricians  were  still  powerful  and  the  plebeians  without 
leaders,  how  was  it  possible  to  resist  now  when  the  people  had 
the  experience  derived  from  theu'  last  struggles  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  their  strength?      The    decemvirs  abdicated  (449  B.  c). 

Is  this  story  of  Appius  in  all  parts  credible  ?  and  has  not 
Livy  been,  this  time  also,  the  echo  of  this  bitterness,  which  for 
ten  years  had  checked  the  great  popular  reform  —  the  drawing  up 
a  code  of  written  law  ?  Appius  has  been  represented  as  a  friend 
of  the  people :  m  proof  of  this  it  is  asserted  that  he  it  was 
who  gave  three  places  to  the  plebeians  in  the  second  decemvirate ; 
that  he  continued  to  hold  office  for  the  purpose  of  crushing  the 
opposition  of  the  irreconcilables  in  the  Senate  who  refused  to 
accept  the  last  two  tables,  —  in  short,  that  the  story  aimed  at 
perpetuating,  by  the  blood  of  a  vu-gin,  the  victory  of  the 
plebeians,  as  the  blood  of  Lucretia,  sixty  years  earlier,  had  per- 
petuated that  of  the  nobles.  This  is  possible ;  but  with  such 
confirmed  scepticism  no  history  at  all  can  exist ;  and  it  being 
impossible  to  prove  a  negative,  the  old  story  preserves  a  part 
at   least   of   its   rights. 


m.   The  Twelve  Tables. 

The  Twelve  Tables  made  little  change  in  the  old  rights  of 
individuals.  Aristocratic  customs  were  too  deeply  rooted  to  permit 
them  yet  awhile  to  become  modified  by  that  spirit  of  equality 
and  justice  which  the  tribunes  by  degrees  infused  into  the  Roman 
constitution.  The  decemvirs  preserved  to  the  paterfamilias  absolute 
power  over  his  slaves,  children,  wife,  and  property. 

If  no   will    was    left,    the    inheritance    passed   to  the    agnati ; 


332       •  IKJME    UNDEE   THE   I'ATKICIAN   CONSULS. 

if  they  failed,  to    the    gentiles :    the    law  did    not    as  yet  recognize 
the  cognati,  or  relations  of  the  wife.^ 

The  Twelve  Tables  did  not  introduce,  as  has  been  sometimes 
maintained,  any  new  law  concerning  the  family,  granting  more 
liberty  to  the  wife  and  son.  The  emancipation  of  the  son  by 
these  pretended  sales  freed  him,  it  is  true,  from  the  paternal 
authority,  but  deprived  him  of  his  inheritance ;  for  he  suffered 
by  emancipation  a  diminution  of  civil  rights,  capitis  diminutio, 
which  indicated  certain  disabilities  ;  as,  for  example,  inheriting 
from  his  father,  bemg  guardian  of  his  nephews,  posterity,  etc., 
since  the  capitis  diminutio  destroyed  the  jus  agnationis.  Marriage, 
on  the  contrary,  by  cohabitation  or  purchase,  coemptio,  was  raised, 
so  far  as  the  husband  was  concerned,  to  the  strictness  of  the 
patrician  marriage :  usu  anni  continui  in  manuni  conveniebat?  The 
plebeian  had  from  this  time,  over  wife  and  children,  the  paternal 
and  conjugal  power  which  the  patrician  had  hitherto  possessed, 
and  which  later  on  the  provincial  could  obtain  only  by  the 
gift  of  civic  freedom.  It  is  the  ciml  marriage  which  receives 
the  sanction  of  the  law,  and  which  is  placed,  so  far  as  its  results 
are  concerned,  on  a  level  with  the  religio^is  marriage,^  which  will 
ultimately  quite  disappear.  In  four  years  Canuleius  made  use  of 
the  rights  recognized  in  the  plebeian  marriage  to  suppress  the 
interdiction  preserved  in  the  Twelve  Tables,  of  unions  between 
the  two  orders.  Thus  the  gates  of  the  patrician  city  will  open 
first  to  the  plebeians  of  Rome,  then  to  the  Italian  allies,  and 
finally  to  their  subjects   in  the   provinces. 

The  ancient  patrician  gens  must  have  been  copied  early  in 
the  families  of  rich  plebeians ;  but  the  bonds  of  the  clientela  being 
gradually  relaxed,  the  Twelve  Tables  tried  to  strengthen  this 
social  institution  of  old  Italy.  "  If  the  patron  does  an  injury  to 
his  client,"  it  is  said  therein,  "  let  him  be  accursed."  It  was  a 
last  effort  to  tie  up  to  his  condition  the  client,  who,  finding  in  the 
law  that  protection  which  he  had  formerly  sought  from   the  great 

1  As  regards  projierty,  the  omnipotence  of  the  father  w^as,  in  the  2d  century  B.  c, 
restrained  hy  lex  Furia,  which  forbade  making  a  bequest  of  more  than  1,000  ases  to  the  same 
person,  in  order  to  prevent  the  abuse  of  legacies,  which  cut  up  properties  and  impoverished 
the  old  families. 

'^  Gaius,  i.  Ill,  and  Q\q.,  pro  Flacco,  34. 

*  On  the  marriage  by  confarreatio,  see  p.  106,  n.  2. 


DECEMVIRS  AND  CIVIL  EQUALITY  FROM  451   TO  449.       333 

man,  drifted  ;iway  from  the  (jms  into  the  common  crowd,  where 
he  found  more  hberty.  Soon  he  espoused  its  interests  and  passions, 
as  the  clients  of  CamiUus  did,  who  voted  against  him.  Tliis  was 
an  unfelt  and  yet  profound  revokition,  for  a  part  of  the  forces  be- 
longing to  the  aristocracy  thus  passed  over  to  the  plebeian  camp. 

Property  remained  also  under  the  same  conditions :  it  was 
either  public  or  private.  As  to  the  first,  there  was  never  any 
freehold,  because  the  state  could  not  lose  its  rights  ;  as  for  the 
second,  two  years  sufficed  to  acquire  it,  for  the  state  was  in- 
terested in  this,  that  the  land  should  not  remain  without  culture. 
If  it  was  a  question  of  personal  property  or  of  slaves,  one  year 
was  enough.  But  against  a  foreign  possessor  the  law  was  always 
open  :  adversus  hostem  aeterna  auctoritas}  Hence  the  efforts  of 
provincials,  when  Rome  had  extended  her  conquests  to  a  distance, 
to  obtain  the  title  of  citizen,  which,  among  other  privileges,  gave, 
after  an  enjoyment  for  two  years,  the  right  of  property  over  those 
uncertain  lands,  so  numerous  everywhere  where  the  legions  had 
passed. 

In  the  heroic  ages  the  law  protected  persons  but  little, 
because  they  knew  how  to  defend  themselves,  and  becaiTse  courage 
was  respected  even  to  the  extent  of  violence.  The  Twelve  Tables 
have,  then,  comparatively  light  penalties  for  attacks  on  the  person. 
But  —  and  this  is  characteristic  of  Rome  —  attacks  against  property 
are  severely  punished.  Theft  becomes  in  them  an  impiety ;  for 
property  is  not  only  the  power  of  the  -rich  and  the  life  of  the 
poor,  but  all  the  goods  which  the  house  contains  are  a  gift  of 
the  Penates,  and  the  harvest  is  even  Ceres  herself.  "  An}'  one 
who  shall  have  bewitched  or  used  magical  arts  (excantasset,  pellex- 
erit)  against  another's  crops,  or  who  shall  have  carried  off,  during 
the  night,  the  pasture  of  the  flocks  of  his  neighbor  or  cut  his 
crop,^  let  him  be  devoted  to  Ceres,  Cereri  necator.  At  night  let 
the  robber  be  killed  with  impunity ;  during  the  day,  if  he  make 
resistance.  Let  him  who  shall  set  fire  to  a  shock  of  corn  be 
bound,  beaten  with  rods,  and  then  burned.      The  insolvent  debtor 

*  On  the  synonymy  of  h/spes,  or  peregrinus,  and  of  Jiostis,  cf.  Cic,  rie.  Off.  i.  12 ;  Varr., 
de  Ling.  Lat.  v.  1.  The  stranger  is  an  enemy:  this  was  for  the  Romans  the  first  principle 
of  the  law  of  nations. 

^  In  the  Twelve  Tables,  says  Pliny  (xviii.  3),  it  is  a  more  serious  crime  than  homicide. 


334  .  KOME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

shall  be  sold  or  cut  in  pieces."  ^  Yet  tlie  Twelve  Tables  had 
moderated  the  severity  of  Nuina's  law  respecting  the  removal  of 
boundaries.  It  was  no  longer  a  capital  crime ; "  soon  it  became 
simply  a  misdemeanor ;  and  the  Mamilian  law  (239  or  165  B.  c.) 
limited  the  punishment  of  the  offender  to  a  fine.  It  was  inevi- 
table that  time  and  the  revolutionary  spirit  of  the  plebeians  should 
alter  the  sacred  character  of  property  of  former  times. 

For  offences  regarded  as  less  grave,  two  modes  of  punishment 
were  in  use  among  all  barbarous  peoples  :  the  lex  talionis,  or  cor- 
poral reprisals,  and  the  private  indemnity.  "He  who  breaks 
any  one's  limb  shall  pay  300  ases  to  the  injured  party ;  if  he  do 
not  compound  with  him,  let  him  submit  to  the  talio." 

Let  us  remark  that  this  severe  people  yet  had  relatively  speak- 
ing some  very  mild  laws.  It  knew  nothing  as  yet  of  torture,  nor. 
condemned  either  to  imprisonment  or  penal  servitude.  All  offences, 
even  a  good  part  of  what  we  should  call  crimes,  were  compounded 
for  by  fine,  —  a  punishment  not  lilved  by  us,  because  it  alfects  not 
only  the  guilty,  but  the  family  ;  a  punishment  which  the  Romans 
preferred,  because  all  the  members  of  a  family  were  conjointly 
responsible.  In  regard  of  crimes  they  troubled  themselves  only 
with  those  which  affected  the  public  peace,  and  they  had  only 
two  forms  of  punishment  for  them :  death  and  banishment.  The 
condemned  were  thrown  from  the  Tarpeian  rock,  strangled  in  the 
TiiUianum,  or  beaten  with  rods  and  beheaded.  The  Porcian  law  in 
the  next  century  suppressed  punishment  by  death  for  the  citizen. 

Cicero  has  preserved  for  us  some  curious  directions  about 
funerals.  "  You  remember,"  says  he,  "  that  in  our  infancy  we 
were  made  to  recite  the  Twelve  Tables,  which  now  hardly  any 
one  knows."  After  having  reduced  luxury  to  three  mourning 
robes,  three  bands  of  purple,  and  ten  flute-players,  they  put  down 
the  lamentations :  "  Let  the  women  no  longer  tear  their  cheeks  ; 
let  them  no  longer  use  the  lessus  at  funerals  ^  .  .  ."  Praiseworthy 
directions,  for  they  applied  ahke  to  rich  and  poor,  which  is  very 

1  See  p.  270. 

2  Cf.  Trotz,  dc  Termino  molo.  It  is  the  establishment  of  the  iter  Umitare.  By  means  of 
this  arrangement  the  need  of  applying  Numa's  law  occurred  but  rarely,  and  this  law  fell  into 
disuse. 

'  .  .  .  Neve  lessum  funeris  ergo  habento.  Cicero  adds  :  Lessum  quasi  lugubrem.  ejulationem, 
ut  vox  ipsa  significat.     {De  Leg.  ii.  23.) 


i 


DECEMVIRS   AND   CIVIL   EQUALITY   FEOM   451   TO   449.       335 

proper,  since  death  effaces  every  difference.  There  are  other 
regulations:  "Let  no  one  be  buried  within  the  city,"  —  a  religious 
prohibition  which  caused  sepulture  to  take  place  in  the  coimtry 
or  along  the  high  roads  leading  to  the  city.  "•  Let  no  gold 
be  put  into  the  graves,"  —  a  useless  expense,  which  the  Etrus- 
cans incurred  voluntarily,  but  which  the  Romans  spared.  How- 
ever,   "  any    one  whose   teeth   are    bound  with   gold   wire    may   be 


THE    TAKPEIAX    ROCK.' 


buried  or  burned  with  this  gold,"  —  a  respect  for  the  corpse  which 
the  hand  must  not  profane,  and  which  must  be  consigned  to  the 
flame  of  the  pile  or  the  earth  of  the  tomb.  "  Let  the  pile  be 
erected  sixty  feet  at  the  least  from  the  house  of  another,"  —  a 
precaution  against  fire,  in  order  that  the  dead  hurt  not  the  living. 

1  "  Travellers  are  shown  a  bare  piece  of  rock  at  Rome  and  told :  This  is  the  Tarpeian 
rock;  and  they  are  astonished  at  its  small  height,  not  reflecting  that  the  rock  which  is 
pointed  out  to  them  by  the  cicerone  at  random  is  only  a  small  part  of  the  Tarpeian 
rock.  This  name  used  to  be  given  to  the  whole  southern  ridge.  I  live  on  this  summit, 
and  understand  very  well  what  would  happen  to  me  if  they  threw  me  out  by  the  window 
into  Strada  di  Consolazione ;  it  would  be  a  fall  of  100  feet.  Besides,  the  side  of  the  Tar- 
peian rock  bristled  with  projections,  against  which  the  bodies  of  those  who  were  thrown 
down  were  mangled  and  smashed  before  reaching  the  bottom."  (Ampere,  Hist.  Rom.  a  Rome, 
ii.  569,  notes.) 


336 


EOME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 


"Let  not  the  wood  be  polished  with  iron,"  —  a  useless  luxury.^ 
"  Let  funei'al  feasts  be  suppressed,  as  well  as  the  throwing  of 
perfumes  into  the  flames  ;  incense-boxes  ^  and  chaplets,  except  that 
which  the   deceased  shall   have  gained  by  his  courage,   and  which 

may,  on  the  day  of  the  funeral,  be  placed 
on  his  head,"  —  precautions  to  restrain  the 
pump  used  by  the  great  in  these  ceremo- 
nies. "  Let  not  the  bones  of  the  deceased 
l3e  kept  for  the  pui-pose  of  performing  the 
obsequies  later  on,"  —  a  prohibition  against 
celebrating  several  times  the  obsequies  of 
the  same  person,  and  of  drawing,  by  this 
repeated  show,  the  attention  of  the  city  to 
the  same  house. 

The  greater  part  of  these  regulations 
were  borrowed  from  the  laws  of  Solon,  who 
himself  also  had  aimed  at  diminishing  the 
influence  of  the  Eupatridae  by  restraining 
show  at  funerals.  But  we  shall  see  that 
A  PKiEST  PRESENTING  TUE    tliB    scveritles   of    the    law   will   not   prevail 

INCENSE-BOX.  mi  J-  l  !•      ,  l 

over  manners.  ihe  lunerais  of  the  great 
were  always  at  Rome  among  the  most  pompous  ceremonies  of 
the  city,  and  by  their  tombs  the  Romans  have  created  a  kind 
of  architecture,  which  we  still  copy. 

Two  questions  of  more  importance  from  an  historical  point  of 
view  are  :  the  introduction  of  several  laws  more  favorable  to  the 
poor  or  the  entire  order  of  plebeians,  and  the  general  character 
which  law  takes  in  the  Twelve  Tables.^ 

Here  were  arrangements  favoraljle  to  the  plebeians :  "  Whoever 
shall  lend  money  at  more  than  81  per  cent  shall  restore  it  four- 
fold ;  "    that    the    nexus    (the    slave    for    debt)    be    not    considered 


1  And  perhaps  a  religious  idea.  We  have  seen  that  not  a  single  nail  was  used  in  the 
construction  of  the  Sublician  bridge. 

2  Acerra,  incense-bo.x ;  one  of  these  is  represented  in  the  engraving,  which  has  been 
copied  from  a  painted  vase  in  the  Naples  Museum,  which  represents  the  preparations  for 
a  sacrifice. 

^  In  the  text,  so  far  as  it  has  been  made  out,  there  is  much  uncertainty  in  the  order  of 
the  contents;  but  the  order,  which  has  much  importance  for  the  jurisconsult,  has  none  for 
the  historian. 


DECEMVIRS   AND   CIVIL   EQUALITY   FROM  451   TO   449.       337 

infamous.  This  was  a  protection  for  the  debtor  against  the  usurer. 
"  In  state  matters  let  them  adjudge  provisionally  in  favor  of 
liberty,"  —  a  protection  for  the  weak  against  the  strong.  ''That 
it  be  permissible  to  form  corporations  or  colleges,  provided  that 
nothing  be  done  against  the  laws  and  the  public  weal."  This 
was  the  right  to  the  lower  classes  to  form  associations.  '•  Let  the 
false  witness  and  the  judge  who  has  taken  bribes  be  thrown 
from  the  rock,"  —  a  protection  to  the  poor  defendant  against  the 
rich  suitor  and  the  patrician  judge.  "  That  there  be  always  right 
of  appeal  to  the  people  from  the  sentences  of  the  magistrates." 
This  is  a  fresh  sanction  to  the  Valerian  law,  and  a  restriction  put 
on  the  unlimited  power  of  the  dictatorship.^  "  That  the  people  only, 
in  the  comitia  centuriata,  have  the  power  of  condemnation  to  death." 
This  was  a  grant  to  the  people  of  criminal  jurisdiction,  taken 
from  the  consuls,  to  whom  the  lex  Valeria  de  provocatione  had  left 
the  judgment  in  the  first  instance.'^  It  was  to  the  assembly  of 
the  centuries,  where  all  patricians  and  plebeians  are  mingled  ac- 
cording to  scale  of  property,  that  the  power  passes.  The  Twelve 
Tables  call  it  maximum  comitiatum,  the  true  assembly  of  the 
Roman  people. 

This  was  the  general  character  of  the  law :  "  No  more 
personal  laws ;  ne  prwilegia  inroganto."  The  civil  legislation  of 
the  Twelve  Tables  recognizes  Roman  citizens  only.  Its  regulations 
are  made  neither  for  an  order,  nor  a  class,  and  its  formula  is 
always :  si  quis,  —  if  any  one ;  the  patrician  and  the  plebeian,  the 
senator  and  the  pontiff,  the  rich  and  the  proletarian,  are  equal  in 
its  eyes.  Fo7'ti  sanatique  idem  jus  esto?  Thus  by  this  blotting  out 
of  distinctions,  formerly  so  deep,  -  the  final  union  of  the  two 
peoples  is  at  last  proclaimed,  and  this  new  people,  formed  by  the 
entirety  of  the  citizens,  has  now  the  sovereign  authority  which 
had  tUl  then  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  patrician  j^opulus. 
"What  the  people    shall    have  ordained   finally  shall    be  law." 

1  Fest.,  Optima  lex:  Livy,  iii.  55;  Cic,  de  Rep.  ii.  .31  :  ah  omni  judicio  paenaque  provocari 
licere. 

'  Cicero  said  of  this  law :  admiranduin,  tatilum  majores  in  posterum  providisse.  The 
Senate  declared  in  SIO  B.  C.  judicium  populi  rescindi  ab  senatu  7ion  posse.  (Livy,  iv.  7.)  The 
elections  and  the  laws  were  alone  submitted  to  the  auctoritas  patrum. 

'  Let  the  strong  and  the  weak  have  the  same  right.  See  in  Festus,  v.  Sanates,  the 
explanation  of  this  word. 

VOL.  1.  22 


338  EOME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

Two  remarks  must  be  made  on  this  axiom :  the  first  is  that 
the  law  is  no  longer  the  revelation  of  the  nymph  Egeria  or  the 
inspiration  of  gods  which  should  continue  mysterious  and  unchange- 
able ;  the  people  who  have  made  it  can  unmake  it.  The  second 
is  the  clear  and  simple  definition  which  is  given  of  it.  The 
Romans  have  not  sought  for  it  in  philosophical  considerations. 
They  do  not  define  a  principle :  they  assert  a  fact,  —  a  new  proof 
of  that  practical  spirit  which  demands  from  life  and  society  only 
those  useful  results  which  they  may  afford. 

The  people  had  also  obtained  by  the  Twelve  Tables  some 
material  ameliorations,  and,  if  not  political  equality  —  from  which 
the  poor  could  scarcely  profit,  at  least  equality  before  the  civil 
and  criminal  law,  which  gives  even  to  the  most  wretched  the 
feeling  of  dignity  as  a  man. 

The  aristocratic  spirit  transpires,  however,  in  this  code  drawn 
up  by  ]Datricians :  "  Let  the  rich  plead  for  the  rich ;  for  the  poor 
any  one  who  will."  ^  This  is  only  contemptuous ;  but  the  law  is 
very  severe  against  authors  of  scurrilous  verses,  and  those  who 
meet  secretly  at  niglit ;  ^  and  in  one  of  the  last  articles  added 
by  A2Dpius  it  sanctioned  the  invidious  exclusiveness  of  former 
days :  "  Let  there  be  no  marriages  between  patjicians  and 
plebeians."  It  is  a  protest  of  the  old  masters  of  Rome  agamst 
the  new  character  of  the  law,  in  the  name  of  their  ancestors,  of 
the  nobility  of  their  race,  the  religion  of  their  families,  and  the 
special  protection  which  the  gods  granted  them.  Let  there  be 
equality,  since  they  could  not  prevent  it ;  let  the  same  judges,  the 
same  law,  the  same  penalty  strike  Fabius  and  Icilius ;  but  no 
mesalliances.  Outside  the  tribunal  let  the  one  return  to  the  crowd 
from  which  he  came,  the  other  to  the  curia,  the  temples  of  the 
gods,  the  hereditary  atrium ! 

The  patricians  had,  in  fact,  allowed  nothing  to  be  changed  in 
the  constitution :  they  remained  consuls  and  senators,  augurs  and 
pontiffs,  judges  especially ;  and  by  the  multifold  forms  of  pro- 
cedure   of   which    the   plebeians   were  ignorant,  they  were  able   to 


1  Assiduo  vindex  assiduus  esto ;  proletario  quivis  volet  vindex  esto. 

^  Qui  caetus  nocturnos  agitaveril,  capital  esto.  For  all  these  citations  from  the  Twelve 
Tables  I  have  followed  the  text  given  by  Reiske  in  his  edition  of  Dionysius  of  Ilalicarnassus, 
pp.  236G-2381. 


DECEMVIES  AND  CIVIL  EQUALITY  FEOM  451   TO   -119.      339 

nullify  this   publication    of  the  law  and   this  civil  equality  which 
they  had  been  compelled  to  proclaim.^ 

In  the  populous  cities  of  Italy  and  Greece  neither  law  nor 
custom  would  suffer  that  state  of  war  in  jseace  —  the  right  of 
taking  justice  into  one's  own  hands  —  which  so  long  decimated 
the  modern  nobility ;  and  public  good  sense  was  sufficiently  strong, 
in  spite  of  blind  superstition,  to  prevent  referring  the  decision 
of  a  cause  to  the  judgment  of  God,  as  was  the  case  in  the  trial 
by  ordeal  in  the  Middle  Ages.^  In  every  case  human  justice 
adjudicated.  But  at  Rome  the  judges  were  not  a  class  of  men 
whose  life  was  devoted  to  the  religious  duty  of  affording  justice. 
For  every  trial  the  consul  named  judges,  always  patricians ;  and 
these  judges  sat  only  on  days  fixed  by  the  secret  calendar 
of  the  Pontiffs,  which  changed  yearly.  They  did  not  admit 
the  litigants  to  set  forth  simply  the  matters  in  dispute  ;  ^  mysterious 
formulae,  gestures,  and  actions  were  necessary.  It  was  required 
to  hold  in  one  hand  a  bit  of  straw  as  a  memento  of  the  lance 
of  the  Quirites,  to  touch  with  the  other  the  object  at  stake,  to 
declare  his  right  in  the  established  terms,  to  throw  the  straw 
at  the  object ;  then  to  defy  the  adversary ;  if  the  question 
related  to  a  theft,  to  enter  naked  into  the  house  of  the  suspected 
thief,  girt  with  a  linen  Ijand,  a  dish  in  the  hand,  etc.  ;  and 
especially  to  avoid  making  any  mistake,  any  error  in  this  judicial 
drama,  for  then  the  suit  could  no  longer  proceed.*  In  this 
unknown  labyrinth  of  legitimate  acts  and  formulae  of  action,  the 
plebeian  easily  strayed  from  the  legal  road,  at  the  least  hint  from 
the   judges ;  and  the   judge  was  so    often   his   political   adversary  ! 

1  Dionys.,  ii.  27  :  cpavfpois  anaa-i.  As  regards  equality  before  the  civil  law,  it  is  still  proved 
by  these  expressions  :  aequatae  ler/cs  (Livy,  ill.  31,  63,  G7)  ;  lirovoixla,  la-ijyopia  (Dionys.,  x.  1)  ; 
vofiovs  KOLvoiis  eVi  ttuo-i  (x.  50).  Appius  says :  Se  omnihus,  summis  injimisque  jura  aequasse. 
(Livy,  iii.  34.) 

'^  [Nevertheless  the  legend  of  the  combat  of  the  Iloratii  and  Curiatii  is  distinctly  an  appeal 
to  the  same  princi])le,  which  we  find  in  old  Jewish  history,  and  which  was  proposed  by  the 
Argives  to  the  Spartans  in  Thucydides'  time  (cf.  Thuc,  v.  41).  The  Spartans  thought  it  folly 
(fiwpia),  but  thought  it  politic  to  agree.  Of  course  the  duel  never  came  off.  The  Argives 
quoted  the  story  of  Otliryades  as  an  old  decision  in  this  way.  In  later  Roman  times  a  personal 
quarrel  was  settled  characteristically  by  a  sort  of  legal  bet  ni  vir  bonus  essci,  where  a  man's 
character  was  investigated  in  court,  and  if  cleared,  his  opponent  lost  his  stakes.  —  £rf.] 

'  Cf.  C\c.,  pro  il/urena,  12,  and  Gaius,  iv.  13-17.  There  were  5  formulas  of  actions: 
Sacramento,  per  judicis  postulationem,  per  condllionem,  per  manus  injectionem,  per  pignoris 
captionem.     The  acta  legitima  were  numberless  ;  cf.  Brisson,  de  Formulis. 

«  See  p.  268. 


340  EOME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

Still,  the  new  legislation  had  founded  the  civil  law  of 
Rome ;  four  centuries  after,  Cicero  still  recomnieuded  its  study, 
carmen  necessariuni,^  and  Gains,  under  the  Antonines,  drew  up 
a  long  commentary  on  the  Twelve  Tables.  This  reform  did 
not  satisfy  all  the  hopes  of  the  people;  but  the  decemvirs 
had  nevertheless  given  an  impulse  to  the  plebeian  power,  if  not 
by  then-  laws,  at  least  by  the  acts  of  violence  of  their  closing 
days. 

1  De  Leg.  ii.  4,  23. 

'  A  woman  holding  a  balance  and  a  stick,  which  is  doubtless  a  measure,  the  pertica,  or 
perch.(=:  10  Rom.  ft.  =  3  yds.  8  in.). 


SILVER    PENNY    OF    ANTONINUS    PIUS.'' 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ErrOETS  TO  OBTAIN  POLITICAL  EQUALITY  (449-400). 

I.   Re-establishment  of  the  Tribunate  and  Consulate. 

rjlHE  revolution  of  510  b.  c,  made  by  the  patricians,  had  benefited 
-L  the  aristocracy ;  that  of  449,  made  by  the  people,  profited 
the  people.  The  decemvirs  had  abdicated,  and  two  popular 
senators,  Valerius  and  Horatius,  had  gone  to  the  Sacred  Mount  to 
promise  the  re-establishment  of  the  tribunate  and  right  of  appeal, 
extended  to  all  the  citizens,  with  an  amnesty  for  those  who  had 
taken  part  in  the  revolt.  The  people  returned  to  the  Aventine, 
and  in  order  to  be  assured  that  these  promises  would  be  kept, 
occujiied  once  more  the  Capitol.^  But  no  one  dreamt  of  disputing 
the  victory.  The  Pontifex  Maximus  held  the  comitia  for  the 
election  of  ten  tribunes,  then  Horatius  and  Valerius  were  ap- 
pointed consuls,  who  by  several  laws  guaranteed  the  recovered 
liberty. 

The  first  of  these  laws  prohibited,  under  pain  of  death,  the 
creation  at  any  time  of  a  magistracy  without  appeal.^  The  second 
gave  the  force  of  law  to  the  plebiscita,  that  is  to  say,  that  resolu- 
tions passed  in  the  assembly  of  the  tribes  should  no  longer  need 
the  sanction  of  the  Senate,  as  did  the  resolutions  of  the  centuries, 
to  become  general  laws.^  The  third  renewed  the  anathema  pro- 
nomiced    against    any    who   outraged    the   tribunitian    inviolability. 

1  Cic,  pro.  Cornel,  i.  Fr.  25. 

^  Livy,  iii.  55. 

'  T^i*  avrffv  ()(ovTas  hivafxiv  Tois  iv  Tais  \o\Itiitw  eKi(Kr](Tiais  Ti6r]a-o\i(voii.  (Dionys. ,  xi.  45.) 
M.  Willems  (ie  Droit  public  Romain,  p.  61)  thinks  that  from  this  moment  the  patricians  and 
their  cHents  were  admitted,  if  not  hy  right,  yet  at  least  in  fact,  to  the  concilia  plebis.  The 
centuries  preserved  jud<!;ments  for  capital  crimes,  election  to  the  chief  magistracies,  the  right  of 
making  the  most  general  laws,  and  of  deciding  for  peace  or  war.  The  legislative  power  of  the 
tribes  was  put  in  force  respecting  questions  of  internal  order,  and  especially  for  the  maintenance 


342    '  ROME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

The  fourth  ordered  that  a  copy  of  all  the  Senatus-consulta,  counter- 
signed by  the  tribunes  with  the  letter  T,^  to  prevent  all  falsifica- 
tion, should  be  intrusted  to  the  plebeian  aediles  and  kept  by  them 
in  the  temple  of  Ceres  on  the  Aventine.  Another  copy  was, 
without  doubt,  kept  by  the  quaestors  in  the  temple  of  Saturn. 
The  tribune  Duilius  had  this  law  passed :  that  the  magistrate 
who  neglected  to  hold  the  comitia  at  the  end  of  the  year,  for 
the  election  of  the  tribunes  of  the  people,  should  be  punished 
with  the  rod  and  axe.^ 

Liberty  was  assured  ;  but  the  blood  shed  called  for  vengeance. 
Virginius  accused  the  decemvirs.  Appius,  their  chief,  killed  himself: 
in  prison  before  the  trial ;  Oppius,  the  second  in  impopularity, 
died  in  the  same  way.  The  others  were  exiled ;  their  property 
was  confiscated  to  the  temple  of  Ceres.  The  people  were  satisfied 
with  these  two  victims,  and  Duilius  declared  that  he  would  opposo 
his  veto  to  any  further  accusation. 

However,  the  two  consuls  had  resumed  military  operations 
against  the  Aequians  and  Sabines,  and  the  latter  were  so 
thoroughly  beaten  by  Horatius,  that  they  remained  at  peace  with 
Rome  for  a  century  and  a  half.  On  their  return  the  consuls 
demanded  a  triumph ;  up  to  that  time  the  Senate  alone  had  the 
right  to  grant  it,  and  refused.  The  tribune  Icilius  had  it  decreed 
by  the  peojole,  and  "  the  consuls  triumphed  not  only  over  the 
enemy,  but  the  patricians  also."  It  was  the  tribunes  also  who, 
gradually  bringing  tlie  people  into  the  most  important  state 
affairs,  decided  in  the  debate  between  Ardea  and  Aricia.^ 

This  matter  is  worth  a  moment's  delay,  for  it  has  given 
occasion  to  one  of  those  very  rare  stories  which  show  us  the 
interior  of  the  Italian  cities.  Ardea,  a  very  old  Latin  city,  four 
miles  from  the  sea,  and  Aricia,  celebrated  in  antiquity  for  its 
terrible  temple  of  Diana,  and  in  modern  times  by  its  cliarming 
Lake   Nemi,    disputed    about    the   territory    of    the  city    of    Corioli, 

and  extension  of  public  rights.  Aul.  Gellius  {Noct.  Attic.  X.  xx.  6)  defines  the  plebiscitura : 
lex  ijuam  plebes,  non  populns,  arcipit. 

1  Val.  Max.,  II.  ii.  7 ;  Livy  (ii.  55)  says  :  Senatusconsulta  quae  antea  arbitrio  consulum 
supprimehantur  viiiabanturque. 

2  Livy,  iii.  55  ;  Died.,  xii.  25.  Another  law,  proposed  by  Trebonius,  required  the 
appointment  of  ten  tribunes  and  forbade  co-optation. 

*  Livy,  iii,  71. 


EFFOETS   TO  OBTAIN  POLITICAL  EQUALITY.  343 

destroyed  in  one  of  the  wars  against  the  Volscians.  After  many 
battles,  they  chose  Rome  as  umpire.  The  Senate  referred  the 
matter  to  the  people,  who,  at  the  instigation  of  the  nobles,  played 
the  part  of  judge  in  the  fable  of  the  Pleaders :  they  adjudged 
to  themselves  the  contested  territory.  The  Ardeates,  more  pleased 
with  the  discomfiture  of  Aricia  than  annoyed  at  having  lost  their 
case,  or  at  least  their  nobles,  who  had  need  of  a  foreign  alliance 
against  the  people  of  Ardea,  made  a  treaty  with  Rome  which  gave 
some  fertile  lands  to  the  Romans.  Did  this  convention  seem  an 
act  of  treason  to  the  plebeians  of  Ardea,  or  were  they  hurt  in 
some  other  way  ?  We  know  not ;  but  a  little  while  after  they 
left  the  city,  and  in  place  of  observing,  in  this  secession,  the  patri- 
otic moderation  which  the  Roman  historians  confess  in  the  seceders 
of  the  Sacred  INIount  or  the  Aventine,  they  returned  to  Ardea  with 
a  Volscian  army.  The  patricians  and  their  clients,  incapable  of 
defending  themselves,  invoked  the  help  of  their  new  allies.  Those 
whom  they  termed  reljels  were  conquered  by  a  Roman  army,  and 
their  chiefs  perished  under  the  axe.  To  re-people  the  city,  now 
half  desert,  Rome  sent  there  a  colony ;  but  the  triumvirs  put  in 
charge  by  it  of  the  division  of  the  lands  gave  the  best  to  their 
friends  of  Ardea ;  so  the  anger  against  them  was  so  hot  among 
the  Roman  people  that,  not  daring  to  appear  before  them,  they 
stayed  in  the  colony,  where  doubtless  they  obtained  a  good  number 
of  jucjera  well  selected.  This  history  enables  us  to  see  in  the 
Latin  cities  the  same  divisions  as  at  Rome,  and,  among  all  those 
peoples,  modes  of  action  which  prove  that  the  ancients  under- 
stood justice  differently  from  us,  or  at  least  otherwise  than  as 
our   moral    treatises   define    it. 

The  year  449  had  not  taken  from  the  patricians  all  their 
privileges.  Rome  has  still  two  classes,  but  only  one  people ;  and 
the  chiefs  of  the  plebs,  sitting  in  the  Senate,  are  meditating,  after 
the  struggle  to  obtain  civil  equality,  to  commence  another  to  gain 
political  equality. 

In  a  revolution,  in  fact,  the  party  which  has  conquered 
opposition  cannot  stop  short ;  its  momentum  carries  it  beyond  the 
goal,  and  it  preserves  for  a  long  while  an  impetus  by  which 
its  leaders  know  how  to  profit  —  sometimes  in  the  public  interest, 
more    often   for   their   ambition.      After   the   victory,    the    tribunes 


344     ■  EOME   UNDER   THE   PATEICIAJST   CONSULS. 

employed  the  rest  of  their  energy  to  complete  the  work  of  the 
decemvirs  and  carry  out  the  Terentilian  law.  The  patricians  had 
more  than  once  tried  to  slip  into  the  tribunate ;  the  Trebonian 
law  closed  it  against  them  for  ever.  They  had  reserved  to  them- 
selves the  judicial  power,  except  in  the  case  of  a  capital  sentence 
against  a  citizen,  and  the  administration  of  the  finances,  by 
leaving  to  the  consuls  the  right  of  appointing  quaestors  of  the 
treasury.  The  tribunes  obtained  in  447  B.  c.  that  the  quaestores 
parricidii  et  quaestoi'es  aerarli  should  be  for  the  future  elected 
in  the  comitia  tributa,  although  these  two  offices  remained 
patrician.-* 

Two  things  maintained  the  insulting  distinction  between  the 
two  orders :  the  prohibition  of  marriage  between  patricians  and 
plebeians,  and  the  tenure  of  all  the  magisterial  offices  by  those 
who  formed  since  the  origin  of  Rome  the  sovereign  people  of  the 
patres.  In  445  b.  c.  the  tribune  Canuleius  demanded  the  abolition 
of  the  prohibition  relative  to  marriages,  and  his  colleagues  a  share 
in  the  consulate.      This  was  a  demand  for  political  equality. 


n.  —  New  Constitution  of  the  Year  444. 

We  know  now  that  every  aristocracy  which  closes  its  ranks 
soon  perishes,  because  time  and  power  quickly  exhaust  political 
families.  Without  knowing  it,  the  Roman  patriciate  acted  as  if  it 
comprehended  this  truth,  and  this  perception  of  public  necessities 
made  the  greatness  of  Rome.  After  a  resistance  skilfully  cal- 
culated for  opposing  to  the  popular  torrent  a  dam  which  broke 
its  force  without  exciting  it,  the  nobles  always  yielded ;  but,  like 
a  disciplined  army  which  never  becomes  broken,  they  retreated 
in  order  to  make  a  strong  defence  at  the  next  point.  Thus 
was  prolonged  this  internal  war,  which  moulded  the  robust  youth 
of  the  Roman  people. 

When  the  patres  heard  this  new  and  audacious  demand  of 
the  tribune,  their  indignation  burst  forth.  "■  Thus  then,"  said 
Claudius,    with   his    hereditary   pride,    "  thus    nothing   will   remain 

1  Tac.,  Ann.  xi.  22. 


EFFORTS    TO   OBTAIN"  POLITICAL  EQUALITY.  345 

pure:  plebeian  ambition  will  pollute  everything,  —  time-honored 
authority,  and  religion,  and  family  rights,  and  auspices,  and 
the  images  of  our  ancestors."  But  the  people  used  the  method 
which  had  alread}-  been  used  twice  before :  they  withdrew  in 
arms  to  the  Janiculum ;  ^  and  the  Senate,  thinking  that  customs 
would  be  stronger  than  law,  agreed  that  henceforth  there  should 
be  legal  marriages  between  patricians  and  plebeians. 

When  this  barrier  was  once  broken  down,  it  was  not  possible 
to  forbid  the  access  of  the  plebeians  to  curule  offices.  However, 
by  mere  adroitness,  the  patriciate,  though  half  conquered,  defended 
itself  for  forty-five  years  longer ;  for  it  had  in  this  struggle  the 
gods  themselves  as  allies,  from  the  belief,  deeply  rooted  in  the 
people,  that  the  hand  of  a  noble  was  alone  able  to  offer  favor- 
able sacrifices  for  the  state.  The  colleagues  of  Canuleius  asked, 
in  the  name  of  the  plebeians,  one  of  the  consulships  and  two  of 
the  quaestorships  of  the  treasury.  The  Senate  granted  that  the 
quaestors  of  the  treasiuy  should  be  chosen  without  distinction^  in 
the  two  orders ;  and  thanks  to  this  latitude,  for  a  long  time 
only  patricians  held  this  office.  As  regards  the  consulship,  no 
concession  was  possible ;  rather  than  relmquish  that  also,  the  Senate 
preferred  to  dismember  it.  This  royal  power  had  already  lost  the 
right  of  performing  certain  sacrifices  (rex  sacrorum),  the  care  of 
the  treasure  {quaestores  aerarii),  and  the  direction  of  criminal  affairs 
{quaestores  parricidU) ;  and  two  new  magistrates,  sine  imjierio, 
that  is,  without  military  authority  or  jm-isdiction,  the  cexsoes, 
created  in  443  B.  c,  at  first  for  five  years,  then  for  eighteen  months 
(434),  obtained  the  consular  right  of  making  the  census,  of 
regulating  the  classes,  of  administering  the  public  domain,  of 
farming  out  to  the  highest  bidder  the  tax  on  the  public  lands, 
of  watching  over  public  morality,  and,    later,  of    drawing   up   the 

'  Flor.,  i.  25.  Tertiam  seditionem  .  .  .  in  monte  Janiculo  .  .  .  duce  Canuleio.  The  patricians 
alone  were  able  to  take  the  auspices.  This  privilege,  necessary  for  acquaintance  with  all  the 
mysteries  of  religion  and  law,  gave  them  a  reUgious  character,  which  the  plebeians  in  the  long 
run  would  share  by  the  mixing  of  families.  Hence  the  keen  opposition  of  the  Senate  to  a  law 
which  would  lead  to  the  mingling  of  the  two  orders.  When  Cleisthenes  wished  to  strengthen, 
at  Athens,  the  democratic  element,  he  suppressed  the  sacra  privata  ;  .  .  Koi  ra  twu  ISiav  ifpav 
avvaKTeov  cts  oXlya  koi  KOtva  Koi  irdvra  <TO<\>L(niov^  ottcos  &v  oti  ^aXtcrra  di>afit^Bo)(Tt  ndiTfs 
dXX^Xoir   .  .  .  (Arist,,  Pol.  VI.  ii.  11.) 

^  Livy,  iv.  43:  promixcuc.  The  quaestors  wore  treasurers  of  the  public  funds;  they  it  was 
who  opened  and  closed  the  treasury,  in  which  were  also  deposited  the  standards  of  the  legions. 


346    ■  EOME   UNDER   THE   PATEICIAN   CONSULS. 

list  of  senators  and  kniglits.^  In  this  way  they  gradually  attained 
the  first  rank  in  the  state,  and  re-election  to  an  office  which 
became  the  highest  honor  in  the  city  was  presently  forbidden. 

There  remained  of  the  consular  power  its  military  functions, 
civil  jurisdiction,  the  designation  of  new  senators,  the  presidency  in 
the  Curiae  and  the  comitia,  the  care  of  the  city  and  the  laws. 
These  powers  were  given,  but  sub-divided,  without  curule  honors, 
with  six  lictors  in  place  of  twelve,  and  under  the  plebeian  name 
of  tribune,  to  three,  four,  or  six  generals.  To  these  military 
tribunes,  elected  without  auspices,^  religion  forbade  at  first  one  of 
the  most  important  prerogatives  of  the  consuls,  viz.,  the  designa- 
tion of  a  dictator.^  Mere  lieutenants,  so  to  say,  of  an  invisible 
magistracy,  but  which  the  Senate  knows  and  inspires,  they  did 
not  fight  under  their  own  auspices,  and  never  did  they  obtain  the 
most  envied  of  military  rewards,  the  triumph.*  What  power  they 
have  is  also  divided  among  them  according  to  their  number.  One 
marches  at  the  head  of  the  legions,  another  commands  the  reserve, 
another  the  veterans,  another  again  watches  over  the  arsenals  and 
provisioning  of  the  troops.  One  only  is  invested  with  the  religious 
and  judicial  functions  of  the  consuls,  viz.,  the  praefectus  urbis, 
president  of  the  Senate  and  the  comitia,  guardian  of  religion,  the 
laws,  and  all  the  interests  of  the  city.^  Also  the  Senate  took 
care  that  these  prerogatives,  including  the  duties  given  later 
on  to  the  praetors,  with  .the    important   privilege    of   naming   the 


1  Pastures,  woods,  fisheries,  salt  mines,  mines,  harbor  dues,  etc.  (Livy,  .xxxii.  7  ;  xl.  51.) 
On  the  duties  of  tlie  censors,  see  Cic,  de  Leg.  iii.  3  ;  Hist.  Aug.  Valer.  2.  But  all  these  duties 
were  not  theirs  from  the  beginning.  Livy  says  (iv.  8)  Bes  a  parva  origine  orla.  The  first 
mention  of  a  leciio  senatus  by  the  censors  is  from  the  year  312  B.  c.  (Livy,  viii.  29-30),  which, 
however,  does  not  mean  that  there  had  never  been  one  before.  [It  appears  from  the  researches 
of  Soltau  at  the  Carlsruhe  Congress  of  Philologists  (1882),  that  the  censorate  was  directly 
imitated  from  the  chief  administrator  (6  eVi  r^r  Stoixijo-fms-)  of  the  Athenian  tributes.  The 
direct  influence  of  Greece  on  Rome  is  probably  older  and  greater  than  is  usually  thought.  —  Ed.~\ 

2  This  can  be  inferred  from  the  speech  of  Appius  (Livy,  vi.  41),  nullus  auapicalo.  At  least 
they  had  not  the  maxima  auspicia.  (Aul.  Gcll.  xiii.  15.)  Livy  even  says  (v.  1 8)  that  they  were 
nominated  in  the  profane  assembly  of  the  tribes  ;  but  he  contradicts  himself  elsewhere  (v.  13). 

^  Religio  obstaret  .  .  .  (Livy,  iv.  31.)  However,  in  423  B.  c,  in  a  pressing  danger,  the 
augurs  removed  this  prohibition,  and  the  consular  tribune,  praefectus  urbis,  Corn.  Cossus, 
nomin.ates  a  dictator. 

*  Zonaras,  vii.  19,  confirmed  by  the  silence  of  the  triumphal  fasti.  The  triumph  was 
accorded  to  those  only  who  had  conquered  i:uis  nuspiciis. 

^  Livy,  vi.  5.  In  424,  four  tribunes,  e  qiiiius  Cossus  praefuit  Urhi ;  the  same  in  431  B.  C, 
in  383,  etc. 


EFFORTS   TO   OP.TAIN   POLITICAL   EQUALITY.  "     347 

judgos,  remained  in  the  hands  of  a  patrician.'  When  the 
plebeians  ultimately  gained  (sntrance  into  the  considar  tribunate, 
one  place  at  least  was  always  reserved  for  a  candidate  of  the 
other  order.^ 

Out  of  the  consulate  three  offices  are  formed :  the  quaestor- 
ship,  the  censorship,  and  the  consular  tribunate.  The  two  former 
are  exclusively  patrician.  The  military  tribunes,  m  reality  pro- 
consuls confined,  with  one  exception,  to  the  command  of  the 
legions,  could  now  be  chosen  without  distinction  from  the  two 
orders.  But  the  laAv,  in  not  requiring  that  every  year  a  fixed 
number  of  thena  be  plebeians,  allowed  them  to  be  all  patricians ; 
and  they  remained  so  for  nearly  fifty  years  .^ 

In  spite  of  such  skilful  precautions,  the  Senate  did  not  give 
up  the  consulate.  It  held  in  reserve  and  pure  from  all  taint  the 
patrician  magistrac}',  hoping  for  better  days.  The  dictatorship, 
which  was  not  effaced  from  the  new  constitutional  code,  and  the 
right  of  opposition  from  the  jmtres,  remained  as  a  last  resource  for 
extreme  cases.  Religion  in  fine  always  furthered  the  interests  of 
the  aristocracy ;  and  if,  in  spite  of  the  influence  of 
the  nobles  in  the  assemblies,  in  spite  of  the  arbitrary 
power  of  the  president  of  the  comitla,  who  had  the 
right     to     refuse     votes     for    a    hostile     candidate,    the 

.,  f  ,  •  f  r  1    •  JUPITEU.* 

majority    of    votes  were    ni  favor   of    a    new    man.    Ins 

election    could    still    be    quashed    by   an    adverse    decision   of    the 

augurs.     If  necessary,  Jupiter  thundered. 

1  Once,  in  306,  Livy  names  six  plebeians.  But  in  the  place  of  P.  Maelius  the  new  frag- 
ments of  the  Fasti  and  Diodorus  (xiv.  90)  name  Q.   Manliiis. 

*  As  regards  the  freipient  variations  in  the  number  of  the  consular  tribunes,  a  thing  so 
strange  in  Roman  anticjuity,  they  are  explained  by  making  the  consular  tribunes  to  be  only 
generals.  Their  number  grew  according  to  the  need.  From  443  B.  C.  to  432  they  are  three, 
two  for  the  legions,  one  to  renaain  as  prefect  in  the  city.  In  425,  after  the  declaration  of  war 
against  Veii,  four  are  named.  If  the  number  reaches  six  in  404,  it  is  still  for  the  Veian  war. 
When  they  are  eight,  it  is  perhaps,  as  Perizonius  has  maintained,  because  the  censors  were 
included. 

=  From  444  to  400  B.  c. 

*  Jupiter  with  the  sceptre  and  thunderbolt.  Antique  intagUo  from  the  French  National 
Collection,  No.   1,420. 


348  KOME   UNDER   THE   rATEICIAN   CONSULS. 


III.   Struggle  for  the  Execution  of  the  New  Constitution. 

Whatever  skill  had  been  exhibited  by  the  Senate,  the  iDrin- 
ciple  of  political  equality  had  just  triumijhed,  and  the  division 
of  the  curule  magistracies  was  only  a  question  of  time.  This 
time  was  long ;  for  the  question  here  was  no  longer  to  satisfy 
general  interests,  but  only  the  ambition  of  some  chiefs  of  the 
people.  Thus  the  attack,  though  spirited,  was  ill-sustained;  and 
the  plebeians,  content  with  the  name  of  equality,  neglected  for 
a  long  time  to  grasp  the  reality.^  We  shall  see  them  at  the 
crisis  ready  to  abandon  Licinius  Stolo  and  the  consulate  for  a  few 
acres  of  land. 

The  constitution  of  444  b.  c.  authorized  the  appointment  of  plebei- 
ans to  the  consular  tribunate ;  down  to  400  B.  c.  none  obtained  it ; 
and  during  the  seventy-eight  years  that  this  office  continued,  the 
Senate  twenty-four  times  appointed  consuls ;  that  is  to  say,  it 
succeeded,  one  year  in  three,  in  its  attempts  to  re-establish  the 
ancient  form  of  government." 

These  perpetual  oscillations  encouraged  the  ambitious  hopes  of 
a  rich  knight,  Spurius  Maelius  (439  B.  c).  He  thought  that  the 
Romans  would  willingly  resign  into  his  hands  their  unquiet  liberty, 
and  during  a  famine  he  gave  very  liberally  to  the  poor.  The 
Senate  became  alarmed  at  this  almsgiving,  which  was 
not  at  all  in  accordance  with  the  manners  of  that 
time,  and  raised  to  the  dictatorship  Cincinnatus,  who, 
on  taking  office,  prayed  the  gods  not  to  suffer  that 
COIN  OF  sEuv  ^^^^  '^^^  ^S^  should  prove  a  cause  of  hurt  or  damage 
AHALA."  iq  ^}-^g  Kepublic.  Summoned  before  the  tribunal  of  the 
dictator,  Maelius  refused  to  appear,  and    sought    protection    against 

'  Livy  sa^s,  it  is  true,  iinperio  vt  iihtii/iiibiis  CDnsuldribiia  iikos  :  biU  all  that  precedes,  shows 
without  dovibt  the  inferiority  of  the  tribunes  to  the  consuls.  If  the  name  alone  had  been 
changed,  the  tribunes  of  the  people  would  not  have  shown  such  obstinacy  in  demanding  the 
consulate  itself.     "It  was  never  a  mere  quarrel  of  words,"  says  Madame  de  Stael. 

-  It  was  on  the  proposition  of  the  Senate  that  the  centuries  decided  each  year  whether 
they  would  elect  military  tribunes  or  consuls.  It  did  not  generally  ])ropose  tribunes  except 
when  they  were  threatened  with  war :  the  ordinary  foruuila  at  the  time  of  the  election  of 
consuls  was,  pax  cf  olium  iloiiii  fitrisqac. 

3  AIIALA.     Head  of  Servilius  Ahala  on  a  silver  coin  of  the  Servllian  family. 


EFFORTS   TO   OBTAIN   POLITICAL   EQUALITY.  349 

the  lictors  amongst  the  crowd  which  filled  the  Forum.  But  the 
master  of  the  horse,  Serv.  Ahala,  managed  to  reach  him,  and  ran 
him  through  with  his  sword.  In  Pjjite  of  the  indignation  of  the 
people,  Cincinnatus  sanctioned  the  act  of  his  lieutenant,  causcul 
the  house  of  the  traitor  to  he  demolished,  and  the  pracfcrfita 
annonae,  Minucius  Augurinus,  sold,  for  an  as  per  modius,  the  corn 
amassed  by  Maelius.^  Such  is  the  story  of  the  partisan  of  llu; 
nobles  ;^  but  at  that  epoch  to  have  dreamt  of  re-establishing  royalty 
would  have  been  a  foolish  dream,  in  which  Spurius  could  not  have 
indulged.  Without  douljt  he  had  wished  to  obtain  liy 
po[)ular  favor  the  military  trilnmate,  and  in  order  to 
intimidate  the  plebeian  candidates,  the  patricians  over- 
threw him  by  imputing  to  him  the  accusation  which 
Livy  complacently  details  by  the  mouth  of  Cincinnatus,  coin  of 
ot  havmg  aimed  at  royalty,  ilie  crowd  always  can  be 
cajoled  by  words ;  and  the  Senate  had  the  art  of  concentrating 
on  this  word  roi/alt>/  all  tlie  phases  of  popular  hatred.  The  move 
succeeded;  during  the  eleven  years  following,  the  people  nine 
times  allowed  the  Senate  to  appoint  the  consular  tribunes.*  There 
was,  however,  in  433  B.  c,  a  plebeian  dictator,  Mamercus  Aemilius, 
who  reduced  the  tenure  of  censorship  to  18  months. 

These  nine  consulships  gave  such  confidence  to  the  nobles 
that  the  Senate  itself  had  to  suffer  from  the  haughty  insub- 
ordination shown  by  the  consuls  of  the  year  428  B.  c.  Though 
conquered  by  the  Aequians,  they  refused  to  name  a  dictator. 
To  overcome  their  resistance,  the  Senate  had  recourse  to  the  trib- 
unes of  the  people,  who  threatened  to  drag  the  consuls  to  prison.^ 
To  see  the  tribunitian  authority  protecting  the  majesty  of  the 
Senate     was     quite     a    new     phenomenon.      From     this     day     the 

'  Livy,  iv.  Ifi  ;  Flor.,  i.  20;  Cic,  Cat.  i.  1.  For  a  different  story,  cf.  a  newly  discovered 
frag,  of  Dionys.  Hal.  in  MiiUer's  Fragrj.  Hist.  Grace,  ii.  p.  31. 

2  Livy,  iv.  12. 

8  C.  AVG  (urinus).  Two  persons,  standing,  hold,  one  of  them,  two  loaves,  the  other,  the 
augural  lituus.  In  the  midst  a  striated  column,  supporting  a  statue,  between  two  corn-ears  and 
two  lions  couchant.  This  silver  coin  of  the  Minucian  family  refers  to  some  fact  which  has 
been  lost.  Livy  (iv.  16)  simply  says:  Minucius  hove  aurato  extra  portam  Triijeminam  est 
(lonatus.     Cf.  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  xviii.  3 ;  xxxiv.  5. 

*  In  thirty-five  years,  from  444  to  4u;)  u.  c,  the  Senate  obtained  the  appoiutmeut  of 
consular  tribunes  twenty  times. 

6  Livy,  iv.  26. 


350       '  EOME    UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

reputation  of  the  trilsunate  equalled  its  power,  and  few  years 
passed  without  the  plebeians  obtaining  some  new  advantage. 

Three  years  earlier  the  tribunes,  jealous  of  seeing  the  votes 
always  given  to  the  nol-iles,  had  proscribed  the  white  robes,  which 
marked  out  from  a  distance,  to  all  eyes,  the  patrician  candidate.^ 
This  was  the  first  law  against  undue  canvassing. 

In  430  a  law  put  an  end  to  arbitrary  valuations  of  penalties 
payable  in  kind.^ 

In  427  the  tribunes,  by  ojjposing  the  levies,  obliged  the  Sen- 
ate to  carry  to  the  comitia  centuriata  the  question  of  the  war 
against  Veii.^ 

In  423  they  revived  the  agrariaii  law,  and  demanded  that  the 
tithe  should  be  more  punctually  paid  in  the  future  by  the  occupiers 
of  domain  land,  and  applied  to  the  pay  of  the  troops. 

They  miscarried  this  time  ;  but  in  421  it  seemed  necessary 
to  raise  the  number  of  quaestors  from  two  to  four.  The  people 
consented  to  it  only  on  the  condition  that  the  quaestorship  be 
accessible  to  the  plel^eians. 

Three  years  later  3,000  acres  of  the  lands  of  Labicum  were 
distributed  to  fifteen  hundred  plebeian  families.  It  was  very 
little;  so  the  people  laid  claim,  in  414,  to  the  division  of  the 
lands  of  Bola,  taken  from  the  Aequians.  A  military  tribune, 
Postumius,  being  violently  opposed  to  it,  was  slain  in  an  outljreak 
of  the  soldiery.  This  crime,  unheard  of  in  the  history  of  Roman 
armies,  did  harm  to  the  popular  cause  ;  there  was  no  distribution 
of  lands,  and  for  five  years  the  Senate  was  able  to  appoint 
the  consuls.  The  patrician  reaction  produced  another  against  it 
which  ended  in  the  thorough  execution  of  the  constitution  of 
the  year  444.  An  Icilius  in  412,  a  Maenius  in  410  B.  c.  took  up 
again  the  agrarian  law  and  opposed  the  levy.  The  year  following 
three  of  the  Icilian  family  were  named  as  tribunes.  It  was  a 
menace  to  the  other  order.  The  patricians  understood  it,  and  in 
410  three  plebeians  obtained  the  quaestoi'ship. 


1  In  431 ;  cf.  Liry,  iv.  25. 

"  Cic,  de  Rep.  ii.  35 ;  Livy,  iv.  30.  The  law  fixed  the  value  in  silver  of  an  ox  and  a 
sheep:  an  o.x  equalled  100  ascs,  a  sheep  10. 

'  Livy,  iv.  30.  In  380  it  was  the  tribes  who  decided  that  war  should  be  made  on  the 
Volscians.     (Livy,  vi.  21.) 


EFFORTS  TO   OBTAIN  POLITICAL  EQUALITY. 


351 


In  405  pay  was  established  for  the  troops,  and  the  rich 
uudertoolv   to    pay    the    larger    portion    of    it. 

Finally,  in  400,  four  militaiy  tribunes  out  of  six  were 
plebeians. 

The  chiefs  of  the  people  thus  obtained  the  public  offices,  and 
even  places  in  the  Senate,  and  the  poor  obtained  an  indemnity 
which  supported  their  families  while  they  served  with  the  colors. 
All  ambitions,  all  desires  are  at  present  satisfied.  Calm  and  union 
returned  to  Rome ;  we  can  see  it  in  the  vigor  of  the  attacks 
on   external   foes. 


BOME    FOLLOWED    BY   A    MAGISTRATE.       BAS-RELIEF    IN    THE   LOUVRE 


CHAPTER  X. 

MILITAET  HISTOET  TKOM  448  TO  389  B,  0.» 

I.   Conquest  of  Anxue  or  Tereacina  (40G). 

IN  the  middle  of  tbe  fifth  century  b.  c,  at  the  period  which 
precedes  and  follows  the  decemvirate,  the  Latin  confederation 
was  dissolved  and  the  Roman  territory  open  to  all  attacks.  Every 
year  the  Sabines  descended  from  the  mountains  of  Eretum,  the 
Aequians  from  Algidus,  the  Volscians  from  the  Alban  Mount,  and 
the  Etruscans  disturbed  the  right  l)ank  of  the  Tiber.  It  seemed 
as  if  a  last  effort  must  be  made  to  set  Rome  free  from  her 
enemies.  But  the  people  had  just  made  in  their  turn  a  plebeian 
revolution.  Confidence  grew  again ;  the  leaders  were  popular ; 
the  war  became  successful.  During  half  a  century  Rome  fought 
only  for  existence ;  afterward  she  fought  for  empire.  She  was 
helped  by  two  powerful  means,  which  the  kings  seem  to  have 
already  employed, — military  pay,  which  allows  longer  campaigns 
and  stricter  discipline ;  the  colonization  of  captured  cities,  which 
assured  the  possession  of  conquests  and  prej^ared  the  way  for 
new  ones.  Thus,  in  the  space  of  fifty  years,  the  Sabines,  the 
Aequians,  and  the  Volscians  laid  down  their  arms.  Veil  dis- 
appeared,  and   the   Latins   became   the   subjects   of  Rome. 

The  first  expedition,  after  the  re-establishment  of  liberty,  was 
signalized  by  a  victory  over  the  Sabines,  which  confined  them  for 
a  century  and  a  half  to  the  Apennines.  Perhaps  it  was  not  the 
terror  inspired  by  the  Roman  arms  which  deserves  credit  for  this 
result,  so  much  as  the  circumstances  which  offered  to  the  Sabines 
more    lucrative    enterprises. 

1  It  is  necessary  for  all  these  wars  to  keep  in  view  the  map  which  we  have  given  of  the 
Agar  Romanus,  p.  302,  and  that  of  Central  Italy. 


MILITAKY   HISTORY    FROM   448   TO   3S9.  353 

The  Samnites  were  at  that  time  very  restless  in  their 
mountains,  and  commenced  against  tlieir  rich  neighbors  those 
incursions  which  obtained  for  tliem  Lucania  and  th(i  Campanian 
phiin.  In  420  they  took  the  large  city  of  Cumae.  The  Sabines  were 
doubtless  engaged,  as  were  all  the  mountaineers  of  the  Apennines, 
in  this  reaction  of  the  old  Italian  race  against  the  foreigners,  and 
Rome,  thankful  to  count  one  enemy  less,  boasted  of  the  moderation 
of  the  Sabines. 

These  movements  of  the  Samnites  made  a  diversion  more 
favorable  to  the  Romans  by  drawing  away  to  the  Liris  the 
attention  and  forces  of  the  Volscians,  who,  however,  in  443  came 
as  far  as  the  Esquiline  Gate.  But  T.  Quinctius  destroyed  their 
army,  and  established  at  the  entrance  of  their  country '  a 
garrison  which  kept  them  in  check  for  fifteen  years.  Then,  as 
if  these  people  relieved  one  another  to  wear  out  Rome  and  ex- 
haust it  by  a  war  without  cessation,  the  Etruscans  recalled  the 
legions  from  the  South  to  the  North.  Fidenae,  five  miles  from 
the  Janiculum,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Tiber,  was  an  advanced 
post  of  Rome  or  Etruria,  according  as  the  descendants  of  the 
Roman  colonists,  sent  by  the  kings  into  that  city,  or  the 
inhabitants  of  Etruscan  origin  were  the  stronger  there.  In  430 
the  aborigines  drove  away  the  colonists  and  placed  themselves 
under  the  protection  of  the  Veientines  and  Faliscans,  after  having 
massacred,  at  their  instigation,  four  ambassadors  from  the  Senate. 
This  war  caused  the  appointment  of  two  dictators  —  the  one  who 
took  possession  of  Fidenae  in  435  ;  the  other,  the  cavalry  general. 
Corn.  Cossus,  who  slew  Tolumnius,  lars  or  king  of  Veii,  and 
offered  up  the  second  sjwlia  opima  (426  B.  c).  To  punish  this 
second  revolt,  the  Senate  caused  the  whole  Etruscan  population 
to  be  massacred  or  sold.  The  terrified  Veii  bessced  a  truce 
of  twenty  years  (425).  There  is  hardly  another  mention  of  the 
name  of  Fidenae  in  history.  In  the  last  century  of  the  Republic 
might  be  seen  in  the  Forum  the  statues  of  the  four  assassinated 
ambassadors ;  and  when  Augustus  restored  the  temple  of  Jupiter 
Feretrius,  he  found  there  the  armor  of  Tolumnius  with  his  linen 
cuirass  which  bore  an  inscription.^ 

*  At  Verrugo,  a  city  or  position  unknown,  which  has  been  thought  to  be  in  the  environs 
of  Signia.  ''  Livy,  iv.  20. 

VOL.   I.  2S 


354 


ROME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 


In  the  interval  between  these  two  Etruscan  wars,  the  Aequi- 
ans  and  Volscians  had  taken  up  arms ;  and  the  dictator  appointed 
against  tliem,  A.  Postuniius  Tubertus,  gave  the  first  example 
of  that  inflexil^le  discipline  which  formed  the  best  infantry  in 
the  world.  His  son  had  fought  without  orders  and  returned 
as    victor  ;     but    he    had    him    beheaded  ^    (431    b.  c).       Tubertus 


RUINS    CALLED    THOSE    OF    THE    TEMPLE    OP    JUPITER    FERETKIUS. 


gained  on  Mount  Algidus,  over  the  allied  army,  a  great 
battle,  which  gave  some  respite  to  the  Romans.  A  truce  of 
eight  years,  and  then  intestine  divisions  which  enfeebled  the 
Volscian  nation,  suspended  hostilities  in  this  direction.  The 
Aequians,  left  to  themselves,  lost  several  cities,^  —  among  others 
Labicum,  —  whither  the  Senate  hastened  to  send  a  colony  of  fif- 
teen hundred  men,  which  barred  the  way  against  these  turbulent 


1   Val.  Max.,  II.  vii.  6  ;  Aul.  GelL,  XVII.  xxi.  1. 

"  In  418  Labicum,  where  they  sent  a  colony  ;  in  414  Bola;  in  413,  Ferentinum,  which  the 
Hernicans  re-entered. 


o 

K 
O 
H 


MILITARY    HISTORY   FROM   448   TO   381).  355 

mountaineers,  and  enabled  the  Romans  to  go  to  tlio  Valley  of 
tlie  Trerus  and  help  the  Herni(!ans,  their  faithful  allies.  Rome 
profited  from  this  success  to  strike  some  decisive  blows  at  the 
Volscians.  In  406  three  armies  menaced  at  the  same  time 
Antium,  Ecetra/  and  Anxvir.  or  Terracina.  Placed  at  the  extremity 
of  the  Pontine  Marshes,  on  the  slope  of  a  hill  near  the  sea, 
Anxnr  was  one  of  the  richest  cities  belonging  to  this  people, 
and  a  military  position  which  commanded,  at  the  same  time, 
the  Pomptinum  and  the  passage  from  Latium  into  Campania. 
Tarqviin  had  understood  its  importance,  and  the  royal  garrison 
which  held  it  in  510  was  sufficient  to  hold  in  check  the  whole 
country  of  the  Volscians.  While  two  armies  marched  with  great 
ostentation  towards  Antium  and  Ecetra.  a  third,  led  l)y  Fabius 
Ambustus,  advanced  rapidly  upon  Anxur  and  took  the  place 
before  the  inhabitants  —  a  long  distance  from  the  ordinary  seat  of 
w*ar  —  had  time  to  realize  the  attack.^  The  two  divisions  which 
had  covered  this  skilful  and  bold  march  joined  with  the  soldiers 
of  Fabius  in  dividing  the  plunder.  A  garrison  was  left  in 
Anxur,  and  Falnus  returned  to  inform  the  Senate  that  the  Re- 
public had  reconquered  the  frontier  held  by  Rome  under  the 
kings  eighty  years  before. 

The  plebeians  deserved  recompense  for  this  brilliant  conquest ; 
besides,  the  truce  with  Veii  expired  the  following  year,  and 
that  people  showed  hostile  intentions.  The  Senate  decreed  that 
the  infantry  should  receive  payment  from  the  public  treasury.^ 
The  legionai-y,  being  consequently  in  no  hurry  to  return  to 
his  own  fields,  remained  longer  under  arms.  The  war  might 
be  extended,  operations  be  prolonged,  and  the  generals  demand 
greater  efforts  and  obedience  from  their  soldiers. 

Large  operations  now  succeed  the  numerous  skirmishes,  whose 
repetition  would  fatigue  by  its  monotony,  did  not  the  glory 
which  this  people  attained  in  maturity  throw  an  illusion  of  splen- 
dor over  the  obscure  years  of  its  youth. 

'  The  position   of  tills  city  is  uncertain  ;  perhaps  not  far  from  Ferentinum.     Abakan 
(Mi/tel-Italien,  p.  75)  places  it  on  Monte  Fortino. 
-  Livy,  iv.  .59. 
*  Ut  stipetidium  miles  de publico  acciperet.     (Livy,  ibid.) 


356      •  ROME    UNDER   THE   PATRICIAJST   COl^SULS. 


II.    Capture  of  Veii  (31)5  b.  c). 

The  siege  of  Veii  began  in  4(15.  Tlie  city  was  only  four 
leagues  from  the  Servian  walls,  and  from  the  top  of  its  walls 
could  be  seen  the  seven  hills.  So  long  as  it  remained  standing 
on  its  escarped  rock,  overlooking  and  threatening  the  right  l)ank 
of  the  Tiber,  the  Romans  could  not  live  in  peace  and  security. 
Therefore  they  employed  all  their  strength  and  all  their  ^^erse- 
verance  in  the  enterprise  from  which  nothing  succeeded  in  turning 
them  aside. 

This  war  was  their  Iliad ;  heroes  and  prodigies,  the  inter- 
vention of  the  gods,  a  resistance  for  ten  years,  great  misfortunes 
after  the  victory,  —  nothing  was  lacking  to  ennoble  the  struggle 
which  made  Rome  the  preponderating  power  of  Central  Italy. 
From  the  first  year  the  war  was  centred  about  Veii.  Two 
Roman  armies  encamped  under  its  walls,  —  the  one  to  reduce  it 
to  starvation,  the  other  to  prevent  all  succors.  But  Veii  was 
abandoned :  the  Etruscans  assembled  at  the  temple  of  Voltumna 
and  declared  the  league  dissolved ;  the  Faliscans  and  the  Ca- 
penates,  being  nearer  to  the  danger,  made  some  isolated  efforts ; 
they  broke  up  one  of  the  two  camps,  and  opened  communication 
for  some  time  between  the  besieged  and  the  country.  The  Tar- 
quinians  also  invaded  the  Roman  territory,  but  were  repulsed 
with  loss. 

The  capture  of  Anxur  had  been  a  terrible  IjIow  to  the 
power  of  tlie  Volsci.  Rome  now  had  a  fortress  from  which 
to  attack  in  the  rear  this  people  whom  the  Latins  faced  and 
the  Hernicaiis  threatened  in  flank.  In  402  the  Roman  garrison 
had  been  surprised ;  two  years  later  the  Romans  re-entered  the 
place ;  and  in  307  the  Volscians  laid  siege  to  tlie  town  whilst 
the  Aequians  were  attacking  Bola.  It  was  the  critical  time  of  the 
siege  of  Veii;  Rome  was  unable  to  spare  a  soldier.  Fortunately 
the  Latins  and  Hernicans  succored  the  places  threatened ;  and 
on  the  news  that  the  great  Etruscan  city  was  gi'V'ing  way,  the 
two  hostile  nations  begged  for  a  truce.  In  order  to  insure  their 
position    at    Anxur,   the   Senate    sent  a  colony    to    the   neighboring 


MTLTTARY   HISTORY   FROM  448   TO   389.  357 

Circei ;  a  second,  established  at  Vitellia,  in  the  chain  of  high  hills 
which  separates  the  Valley  of  the  Anio  from  that  of  the  Trerus, 
closed  finally  against  the  Aequians  the  issue  from  their  moun- 
tains. 

For  the  first  time  the  Romans  had  continued  hostilities  during 
the  winter.  But  their  success  did  not  equal  their  perseverance. 
The  divided  connnand  among  the  military  tribunes  caused  defeat 
or  chilled  the  ardor  of  the  troops.  In  400  B.  c,  the  people, 
suspecting  some  treason,  at  last  chose  four  plebeians  to  the 
consular  tribunate.  Fortime  did  not  change ;  two  tribunes,  one 
of  whom  died  on  the  field  of  battle,  were  again  overcome,  and 
the  Senate  thought  all  Etruria  would  rise ;  it  appointed  as 
dictator  a  patrician  who  had  held  with  distinction  the  highest 
offices,  —  M.  Furius  Camillus  (396).  Camillus  called  out  all  the 
citizens  able  to  bear  arms,  svmnnoned  contingents  from  the  Latins 
and  Hernicans,  and  led  them  against  the  victorious  enemy.  After 
a  bloody  struggle  the  Capenates  and  Faliscans  withdrew  to  their 
cities,  and  the  Romans  were  able  to  press  on  actively  the  siege 
of   Veii. 

Tradition  preserves  the  story  of  a  mine  carried  beneath  the 
walls,  through  which  the  Romans  penetrated  to  the  midst  of 
the  city.  But  it  records  many  other  marvels,  —  the  overflow  of 
the  Alban  Lake  in  the  middle  of  a  scorching  summer,  and  the 
thousand  canals  dug  to  prevent  the  water  reaching  the  sea ;  ^  the 
fatal  imprudence  of  the  Tuscan  haruspex  who  betrayed  his  people's 
secrets ;  and  the  menacing  prophecy  of  an  Etruscan  chief  respect- 
ing the  Gallic  invasion.  At  the  taking  of  the  city  the  recorded 
prodigies  continue.  The  mine  led  to  the  sanctuary  of  Juno,  the 
guardian  divinity  of  Veii.  In  {he  midst  of  the  din  of  a  general 
assault,  Camillus  penetrated  by  the  tunnel  right  to  the  temple. 
The  Veian  King  was  consulting  the  gods.  "  The  victor,"  cried 
the    haruspex,    "will    be    he    who    shall    offer    on    the    altar    the 

'  The  outlet  of  the  Alban  Lake,  cut  through  the  voleanic  rock  for  a  length  of  2,730  yards, 
5  feet  wide,  and  high  enough  for  a  man  to  pass  along  it,  is  a  very  ancient  work,  probably 
anterior  to  Rome.  There  may  have  been  made,  at  the  time  of  the  siege  of  Veii,  some  repairs 
shown  to  be  necessary  by  the  severe  winter  of  400,  whi<h  accumulated  deep  snow  on  the 
mountains,  and  the  scorching  summer  which  followed.  This  canal  is  still  in  use,  and  the 
stream  which  escapes  by  it  falls  into  the  Tiber  below  Rome.  Sir  Wm.  Cell's  Topography  of 
Rome,  pp.  39  and  53. 


358      •  EOME   UNDEE   THE   PATEICIAN   CONSULS. 

entrails  of  the  victim."  At  these  words  Camilhis  and  the  Romans 
burst  into  the  sanctuary  and  finished  tlie  sacrifice.  The  j^hmder 
was  immense ;  Camillus  had  called  together  the  whole  people 
to  the  pillage.  The  small  number  of  inhabitants  who  escaped 
massacre  were  sold.  Meanwhile,  from  the  top  of  the  citadel, 
Camillus  was  proudly  contemplating  the  grandeur  of  the  city 
thus  become  his  conquest,  and  the  richness  of  the  spoils ;  Ijut 
he  remembered  the  frail  nature  of  the  most  brilliant  prosperity, 
and,  veiling  his  head,  he  pi'ayed  the  gods  to  turn  from  him  and 
the  Republic  the  ills  in  store  for  mortals  of  exceeding  good  fortune. 
In  turning  round,  according  to  the  ritual  prescribed  for  solemn 
prayers,  he  struck  his  foot  against  a  stone  and  fell.  But  he 
rose  full  of  joy.  "  The  gods  are  satisfied,"  said  he ;  "•  this  fall  has 
expiated  my  victory." 

Rome,  in  conquering  cities,  also  conquered  their  gods.^  Camillus 
had  promised  to  the  Veian  Juno  a  temple  on  the  Aventine,  on 
condition  that  she  consented  to  leave  the  hostile  city  to  follow 
liiiu  to  Rome.  But  no  one  dared  to  touch  the  sacred  image. 
Some  young  knights,  purified  according  to  the  rites,  and  clothed 
in  their  festal  dress,  came  to  the  temple  to  ask  the  goddess 
if  she  consented  to  go  to  Rome.  "  I  will  do  so,"  said  a  voice ; 
and  the  statue  appeared  to  follow  of  itself  those  who  were 
to   move  it. 

The  credulous  Plutarch  does  not  know  what  to  think  of  such 
prodigies.  He  says  :  "  Others  allege  similar  marvels,  —  that  images 
have  exuded  drops  of  sweat ;  that  they  have  been  heard  to  sigh ; 
that  they  have  moved,  or  made  signs  with  their  eyes :  but  there  is 
danger  in  believing  too  easily  "such  things,  as  well  as  in  not  believ- 
ing them,  because  of  the  frailty  of  human  nature.  Hence,  to  be 
cautious,  and  to  go  to  neither  extreme,  as  in  everything  else,  is 
still  the  best."  ^  In  this  matter  Livy  is  not  cautious,  like  the  pru- 
dent Plutarch.  He  treats  the  miracle  as  a  fjible,  ^  —  which,  how- 
ever, does  not  prevent  him  from  promising  Juno  Regina  that  her 
temple  at  Rome  shall  be  an  eternal  abode,  —  acternam  scdem  suam. 

1  Livy,  V.  21;  Verg.,  Aen.  iii.  222;  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  iii.  o,  9;  Macrob.,  Sat.  iii.  9. 
Evocare  deos.  —  Solere  Romanos  religiones  urbium  captarum  parlim  privatim  per  familias 
spargere,  partim publice  consecrare.     (^Arnuh.,  i'u.  SS.) 

2  Ca?n.,  6. 

»  Indc/abulae  ...  (v.  22.) 


MILITARY    HISTORY    FROM   448   TO   389. 


359 


Of  this  eternity  iiotliing  now  renuiius,  save  perhaps  a  few  old 
marble  columns  which  adorn  a  temple  dedicated  to  another  wor- 
ship,—  the  church  of  Santa  Sabina. 

The  territory  of  ^'cii  was  divided  among  the  citizens,  but 
the  city  remained  a  desolate  waste  for  centuries.  Propertius 
could  still  write,  in  the  time  of  Augustus  :  "  0  Veii,  thou 
w'ast  a  kingdom,  and  in  thy  forum  stood  a  golden  tlirone ! 
To-day  the  pipe  of  the  idle  shepherd  resounds  within  thy  walls, 
and  in  th}-  fields  the  harvest  covers  the  bones  of  thy  citizens !  "  ^ 


.-.^^'"■'Ij'-^. 


-r  i 


K- 


^i0 ■ 


OLD   GATE    OF    THE    CITADEL    OF    FALEItll. 


It  recovered  under  the  Empire,,  only  to  fall  once  more.  In  the 
time  of  its  power  its  walls  contained  a  hundred  thousand  souls ; 
at  present  the  space  which  is  occupied  by  its  citadel  —  so  long 
the  rival  of  the  Roman  Capitol  —  would  be  far  too  large  for  the 
eighty  inhabitants  of  tlie  Isola  Farnese.^ 

The  fall  of  Veii  brought  that  of  Capena  (395) ;  and  Falerii 
was  gained,  it  is  said,  by  the  generosity  of  Camillus,  who  had 
sent  back  to  their  fathel-s  the  children  of  the  principal  people 
of  the  city,  whom  the  schoolmaster  had   given  up  to  him  (394). 


1  Carm.  IV.  .\.  27. 


2  See  p.  30G,  the  plan  of  Veii. 


360       .  EOME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

Two  or  three  years  after,  tlie  capture  of  Nepete  and  Sutriura 
carried  tlie  Roman  frontier,  towards  the  north,  up  to  the  dark 
Ciminian  forest,  which  was  thought  at  Rome  to  be  impassable. 
The  legions  ventured,  however,  to  cross  it  to  attack  the  Sal- 
pinates  and  Vulsinians,  who  obtained  a  truce  of  twenty  years,  by 
the  indemnity  of  a  year's  pay  to  the  Roman  army  (391). 

So  from  450  to  390  B.  c.  the  Romans  have  resumed  the  offensive. 
They  are  established  in  the  midst  of  the  Volscians  by  means  of 
colonies  or  the  garrisons  of  Circei  and  Anxur;  by  those  of  Bola 
and  Labicum  they  have  guarded  their  territory  against  the 
Aequians.  But  the  latter  continue  still  in  possession  of  Algidus, 
and  have  destroyed  Vitellia,  which  might  have  haired  their 
way  to  it.  If  the  result  is  not  yet  settled  between  Rome 
and  its  two  indefatigable  enemies,  the  position  is  at  least  the 
reverse  of  what  it  was  at  the  commencement  of  this  period. 
Fear  and  caution  are  transferred  to  the  Volscian  side.  Besides, 
Rome  has  exercised  an  increasing  ascendency  over  what  remains 
of  the  thirty  Latin  tribes.  Accustomed  to  be  defended  by  her, 
they  have  learned  the  habit  of  obedience.  The  ancient  equality 
is  forgotten,  and  Rome  has  united  to  her  own  territory  that  of  the 
Latin  cities  which  she  recovered  from  the  enemy.  To  the  north 
of  the  Tiber  she  can  boast  of  a  brilliant  triumph,  and  the 
conquest  of  the  Veian  country  has  doubled  her  own  territory. 
But  in  this  direction  her  victories  produced  a  great  danger,  since 
they  brought  her  face  to  face  with  the  Gauls ;  and  she  had  just 
lost  her  best  general,  —  Camillus  was  an  exile. 

What  was  the  cause  of  this  exile  ?  The  i^roud  magnificence 
of  his  triumph,  when  he  went  up  to  the  Capitol  in  a  car  drawn 
by  four  white  horses,  the  equipage  given  to  the  Sun-god,  his 
pride,  and  the  vow  that  he  had  secretly  made  to  consecrate  to 
the  Pythian  Apollo  the  tithe  of  the  booty  of  Veil,  and  finally, 
his  opposition  to  the  project  of  the  tribunes  to  transfer  to  that 
city  a  part  of  the  Senate  and  people,^  had.  it  is  said,  excited 
against  him  the  people's  hatred.  The  last  proposition  was  very 
dangerous,  since  it  would  thus  have  set  up  again  the  antagonism 
which    had     only    been    destroyed    by     desperate     efforts.^      It    is 

1  Livy,  V.  24.  2  See  p.  369. 


MILITAKY   HISTORY   FROiM   448   TO   389. 


361 


hard  to  see  how  they  could  have  dared  to  do  it,  and  the  whole 
matter  may  be  more  csasily  explained.  A  part  of  the  Vcian 
lands  was  certaiidy  divided  among  the  plebeians,  who  thought 
that  the  Senate  intended  to  recompense  them  for  their  long  efforts 
by  the  concession  of 
the  absolute  freehold. 
Camillus  may  have 
proposed  to  charge 
this  property  with  a 
rent  for  the  revenue, 
as  was  the  case  with 
all  the  ager  jnibUcus  ; 
hence  the  popular 
resentment,  and  the 
accusation  brought 
against  him  under  the 
pretext  of  embezzle- 
ment.^ His  own  cli- 
ents refused  to  vote 
in  his  favor ;  "  We 
cannot  acquit  you," 
said  the}',  '•  Ijut  we 
will  pay  the  penalty 
for  you."  He  did 
not  desire  an  act  of 
devotion  which  saved 
his  fortune  at  the  ex- 
,pense  of  his  honor, 
and  he  went  into 
exile    without    await- 


PYTIIIAX    APOLLO.'' 


ing   the    trial.     It   is 

related  that,  after  having  passed  the  Ardeatine  gate,  he  turned 
towards  the  city  and  prayed  the  gods  of  the  Capitol,  if  he  were 
innocent,  to  make  his  fellow-citizens  soon  repent  his  exile,  —  hard 
and    egoistic    words,  which    recall  by  contrast  the  touching  prayer 


'  Pliny,  Hint.  Nat.  xxxiv.  3. 

'  Statuette  from  the  Louvre,  No.  73  in  the  Frdhner  Catalogue. 


362        ■  EOME    UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN    CONSULS. 

of  Aristides,  but  which  the  Greeks  have  invented  to  bring  out 
the  true  grandeur  of  their  Athenian  hero,  and  to  presage  tlie 
terrible  drama  of  the  Gallic  invasion. 

For  the   same   year  the  Gauls  entered  Rome. 


III.   Capture  of  Rome  by  the  Gauls  in  390  b.  c. 

Nearly  two  centuries  had  elapsed  since  the  Gauls  had  made 
a  descent  into  Italy,  and  they  had  not  dared  again  to  entangle 
themselves  in  the  Apennines ;  but  the  most  venturous  of  their 
bands,  by  keeping  close  to  the  Adriatic  shore,  went  to  gain,  in 
the  service  of  the  cities  of  Magna  Graecia,  large  military  pay,  or  to 
pillage  on  their  own  account  this  beautiful  country.  Yet  we  can 
hardly  believe  that  the  Senones  —  who  had  since  the  time  of 
Tarquinius  Superbus  reached  the  banks  of  Aesis  —  continued  more 
than  a  century  without  coveting  Etruria,  to  which  they  were  so 
near,  and  with  whose  opulence  they  were  well  acquainted.  Here 
are  still  the  two  principal  routes  which  lead  from  Tuscany  into 
the  Romagna.  To  the  east  of  Perusia  the  Apennines  sink,  and 
over  several  ridges  offer  easy  passages ;  the  Gauls  learned  early 
to,  cross  by  them  ;  and  this  circumstance  explains  why  the  Etruscans 
of  the  north  and  east,  being  menaced  by  tliese  turbulent  neighbors, 
abandoned  those  of  the  south  when  attacked  by  Rome.  The  siege 
of  Clusium  was  only  the  most  important  and  best  knoAvn  of  these 
expeditions. 

Clusium,  built  on  a  height  above  the  Clanis  (la  Chiana),  an 
affluent  of  the  Tiber,  had  been  in  Porsenna's  time  the  most 
powerful  of  the  Etruscan  lucumonies.  It  was  still  flourishing,  and 
rich  with  a  thousand  objects  of  art,  —  vases,  candelabra,  bronzes 
of  all  sorts,  some  of  which  have  been  recovered,  and  wliich  ex- 
cited the  covetousness  of  the  Gauls  as  much  as  did  tlie  fertility 
of  the  lands.  Thii'ty  thousand  Senones  demanded  a  share  of  its 
teiTitory.  The  Clusians  shut  their  gates,  and  begged  succor  from 
Rome.  The  latter  sent  three  ambassadors,  Fabii,  to  offer  the 
mediation  of  the  Romans.  "  When  they  had  explained  their 
message  to  the  Gallic  council,"  says  Livy,  "  the  latter  replied 
that  'though   they   had    never   heard    of    the    Romans   before,    they 


MILITAKY    HISTORY    FltUM   448   TO   389. 


563 


must     conchule     tliom     tf)     be 
had  begged  their  aid.      Nor 
would    the    pr()])osed     peace 
be  rejected,  it    the    Chisians, 
wlio    had    too    much     hind, 
woidd   yiekl    a   part    to    the 
Gauls,    Avho    had    too    little ; 
otherwise  j)eace    will  not  be 
granted.      Let  them    answer 
us  in  the  Romans'  presence ; 
if  not,  we    will   fight    under 
their  ej'es,  and  they  will  be 
able  to  go  and  tell  at  Rome 
how  much  the  Gauls  surpass 
other      men      in      bravery.' 
'But  by  what  right  do  you 
attack  the  Etruscans  ? '  asked 
Q.  Ambustus.     'This  right,' 
replied  the  Senonian  Brennus, 
'we    carry,    as   you    Romans 
do,    at     the     point     of    our 
swords :    everythhiL!'    belons-s 
to   the    brave.'"     The    Fabii 
were  annoyed  at  the  haugh- 
tiness of  this  barbarian,  who 
dared    to    assert    that    their 
native     city    had     made    so 
little    noise    in    the    world, 
that  its    name  had    not   yet 
reached    the    plains    of    the 
Po.      Forgetting  their  char- 
acter   of    ambassadors,    they 
joined    the     besieged    in     a 
sortie;     and     Q.     Ambustus 
slew,    in    sight    of    the    two 


be     bravo     men,     since     the     Clusians 


CANDELAIiRUM    OF    UltONZE    POUND    AT    CIIIUSI." 


armies,  a  Gallic  chief,  whom  he  despoiled  of  his  arms. 


1  Atlas  of  the  Inst,  archdol.  of  Rome  for  1851.     Chiusi  has  prcsorvc.l  none  of  the  si.leudor 


364 


ROME  u:nder  the  patrician  consuls. 


The  barbarians  immediately  ceased  hostilities  against  Clusium, 
and  demanded  reparation  at  Rome.  The  whole  college  of  fetiales 
insisted,  in  the  name  of  religion,  that  jnstice  should  be  done. 
But  the  credit  of  the  gens  Fabia  prevailed  ;  the  guilty  were 
absolved,  and  the  people,  as  if  struck  with  madness,  gave  them 
three  out  of  the  six  appointments  as  military  tribimes. 

On  hearing  this,  the  Senones,  reinforced  by  some  bands 
from    the    banks   of    the    Po,   commenced    their   march   on    Rome, 

without  attacking  a  single 
city,  without  pillaging  a 
village.  They  descended  along 
the  Tiber,  when,  being  then 
eleven  miles  from  the  Capi- 
tol, near  the  stream  of  the 
Allia,^  they  saw  on  the 
other  bank  the  Roman  army 
extended  in  line,  their  centre 
in  the  i:)lain,  their  right  on 
the  heights,  their  left  covered 
by  the  Tiber.  The  attack 
commenced  from  the  side  of 
the  hills,  where  the  left 
wing,  composed  of  veterans,  kept  firm ;  but  tlie  centre,  frightened 
by  the  shouts  and  savage  aspect  of  these  men,  who  seemed  to 
them  of  gigantic  proportions,  and  who  advanced,  striking  their 
bucklers  with  their  arms,  broke  their  ranks,  and  threw  themselves 
in  disorder  on  the  left  wing.  All  who  could  not  swim  across  the 
Tiber,  and  take  refuge  behind  the  strong  walls  of  Veil,  perished 
in  the  plain,  on  the  banks,  and  in  the  bed  of  the  river ;  the 
right  wing,  unbroken,  beat  a  retreat  to  Rome,  and  without  manning 


GAULti.- 


of  Clusium,  except  a  number  of  tombs  witb  a  quantity  of  sepulchral  urns  and  bronzes  decorated 
with  figures  in  relief  and  monsters  of  an  Oriental  character.  By  the  side  of  these  objects, 
which  have  nothing  in  common  with  Greek  art,  have  been  found  some  painted  vases  of 
Hellenic  jn-oduction  or  imitation.  (Cf.  Dennis,  Etruria,  ii.  pp.  32.5-384.)  [The  candelabrum 
in  the  cut  shows  a  thoroughly  Greek  and  well-designed  chair  adapted  to  an  absurd  ]iurpose, 
—  the  support  of  a  pillar  on  a  .sitting  woman's  head. — Ed.'] 

1  According  to  IM.  Pietro  Rossa,  the  Scannabecchi,  which  comes  down  from  the  Crus- 
tuminian  Hills. 

-  Group  taken  from  a  bas-relief  found  at  Rome,  decorating  the  sarcophagus  called  that 
of  Ammendola  Villa. 


MILITARY    III.STOKY   FROM   448   TO   .S89.  365 

the  walls,  without  closmg  the  gates,  hastened  to  hold  the  citadel  on 
the  Capitoline  hill  (18th  July,  390  B.  c).  Happily  the  barbarians 
stayed  to  pillage,  to  cut  off  the  heads  of  the  dead,  and  to  cele- 
brate with  orgies  their  easy  victory.  Rome  had  time  to  recover 
from  its  stupor,  and  to  take  measures  which  might  save  the 
Roman  name.  The  Senate,  magistrates,  priests,  and  a  thousand 
of  the  bravest  of  the  patrician  youth,  shut  themselves  up  in  the 
Capitol.  They  carried  thither  all  the  gold  of  the  temples,  all  the 
provisions  of  the  city;  as  for  the  bulk  of  the  people,  they  soon 
covered  the  roads,  and  dispersed  among  the  neighboring  cities. 
Caere  (Cervetri)  afforded  an  asylum  to  the  Vestals  and  the  sacred 
vessels. 

On  the  evening  of  the  second  day  which  followed  the  battle 
the  Gauls'  advanced  guard  appeared  in  sight ;  but,  astonished  to 
see  the  walls  bare  of  soldiers,  and  the  gates  open,  they  feared  some 
snare,  and  the  army  put  off  its  entrance  till  next  day.  The  streets 
were  silent,  the  houses  deserted ;  in  some  the  barbarians  saw 
with  astonishment  old  men  seated  on  curule  chairs,  clad  in 
long  robes  edged  with  purple,  and  resting,  with  calm  air  and 
fixed  eye,  on  their  long  ivory  staves.  These  were  ex-consuls,  who 
offered  themselves  as  victims  for  the  Repulilic,  or  who  had  not  been 
willing  to  beg  an  asyhun  among  their  former  subjects.  The  barba- 
rians at  first  looked  at  them  with  a  childlike  wonder,  quite  disposed 
to  take  them  for  supernatural  beings ;  but  a  Gaul  softly  pass- 
ing his  hand  over  the  long  beard  of  Papirius,  the  latter  struck  him 
with  his  staff,  whereupon  the  irritated  Gaul  slew  the  old  man.  This 
was  the  signal  for  massacre ;  nothing  living  was  spared.  After 
the  pillage  the  houses  were  set  on  fire. 

The  barbarians  saw  soldiers  and  warlike  ^^reparations  only  on 
the  Capitol,  and  desired  to  mount  it ;  but  on  the  narrow  and 
steep  acclivity  which  led  up  to  it  the  Romans  had  little  difficulty 
ui  repulsing  them,  and  the  siege  had  to  be  changed  into  a 
blockade.  For  seven  months  the  Gauls  encamped  in  the  midst  of 
the  ruins  of  Rome.  One  day  they  saw  a  young  Roman  descend 
at  a  slow  pace  from  the  Capitol  clothed  in  sacerdotal  garments, 
and  carrying  in  his  hands  some  consecrated  things :  it  was  a 
member  of  the  gens  Fabia ;  without  being  disturbed  by  shouts  or 
threats,   he    crossed    the   camp,   ascended   the   Quiriual,   and   there 


366       •  EOME   UNDEE   THE   PATEICIAN   CONSULS. 

performed  expiatory  sacrifices.  Then  he  returned  cahnly  and 
slowly  ))y  the  same  way  he  had  taken.  Admiring  his  courage, 
or  struck  with  superstitious  fears,  the  Gauls  had  allowed  him  to 
pass.^ 

The  gods  were  appeased ;  fortune  was  about  to  change.  In 
their  want  of  foresight,  the  barbarians  had  provided  neither  pro- 
visions nor  shelter ;  a  rainy  autumn  Ijrought  diseases  which 
decimated  them,  and  famine  obliged  them  to  scour  the  country 
in  bands.  The  Latins  and  Etruscans,  who  at  first  rejoiced  at 
the  misfortunes  of  their  too  powerful  neighbors,  were  in  their 
turn  affrighted.  The  best  general  of  Rome  was  then  an  exile  in 
Ardea ;  this  city  gave  him  some  soldiers  with  which  he  surprised 
and  massacred  a  Gallic  detachment.  This  first  success  encouraged 
resistance ;  on  all  sides  the  peasants  rose,  and  the  Roman  refugees 
at  Veii  proclaimed  Camillus  dictator.  The  sanction  of  the  Senate 
and  of  the  Curiae  was  needful  to  confirm  the  election  and  restore 
to  Camillus  the  civic  rights  which  he  had  lost  by  his  exile.  A 
young  plebeian,  Cominius,  crossed  the  Tiber  by  night,  swimming  or 
floating  on  the  bark  of  a  cork-tree,  escaped  the  enemy's  sentinels, 
and  by  the  aid  of  some  briers  and  shrubs  which  clothed  the 
escarped  slopes,  he  reached  the  citadel.  He  returned  with  the 
same  good  fortune,  and  brouglit  to  Veii  the  appointment  which 
put  aside  all  the  scruples  of  Camillus.  But  the  Gauls  had  observed 
his  footprints.  On  a  dark  night  they  climbed  to  the  very  foot 
of  the  rampart ;  they  had  already  touched  the  battlements,  when 
the  cackling  of  some  geese,  sacred  to  Juno,  awoke  a  patrician 
renowned  for  his  strength  and  courage,  Manlius,  who  hurled  from 
the  top  of  the  wall  the  foremost  assailants.  The  garrison  soon 
manned  the  rampart,  and  but  a  small  number  of  Gauls  regained 
their  camp.  The  Capitol  was  saved,  thanks  to  Manlius ;  but  the 
provisions  were  exhausted,  and  Camillus  did  not  appear.  The 
military  tribune  Sulpicius  treated  with  Brennus,  whom  an  attack  of 
the  Veneti  summoned  to  his  country,^  and  whose  army  the  malaria 


'  The  act  of  this  Fabius  was  perhaps  less  wonderful  than  Livy  would  make  out :  the 
Quirinal  was  then  joined  to  the  Capitol  by  a  ridge  which  later  on  was  cut,  and  which  Fabius 
followed.  The  cnterjn'ise  was  not  less  audacious,  and  might  ha\e  ended  badly,  but  for  the 
religious  astonishment  of  the  Gauls  at  this  act  of  courage  and  Jiiety. 

2  Polyb.,  Hist.  ii.  18. 


GEESE    OF    TUE    CAPITOL. 


MILITARY   HISTORY    FROM   448   TO   389.  367 

was  now  destroying.  It  was  agreed  that  the  Gauls  should  receive 
as  ransom  1,000  lbs.  weiglit  of  gold  (about  800  lbs.  av.)  ;  that 
])rovisions  and  means  of  transport  should  be  furnished  them  by 
the  allies  of  Rome  ;^  and  that  one  of  the  city  gates  should  always 
stand  oi^en. 

When  the  gold  was  being  weighed,  the  barbarians  bnjught 
false  weights.  When  Sulpicius  protested,  "  Vae  victiri ! "  said  the 
Brcnn,  — '"  Woe  to  the  conquered  !  "  and  he  threw  into  the  scales 
his  great  sword  and  his  baldric. 

The  barbarians  went  oft'  ;  but  Camillus  annulled  the  treaty 
by  his  authority  as  dictator.  He  ordered  the  allied  cities  to 
close  their  gates,  to  attack  stragglers  and  isolated  bands.  Dur- 
ing the  blockade,  in  which  70,000  Gauls  were  engaged,  numerous 
detachments  had  quitted  the  siege  to  scour  the  country  ;  they 
had  reached  as  far  as  Apulia.  When  they  returned,  the  mass  of 
the  army  was  gone,  all  Latium  in  arms,  the  Roman  legions  reor- 
ganized ;  thus  very  few  of  them  escaped.  The  Caerites  massacred 
a  body  of  them  which  fell  by  night  into  an  ambuscade  ;  and  an- 
other was  crushed  by  Camillus  near  a  city,  the  name  of  which 
is  lost. 

This  narrative  by  Livy  is  plainly  legendary,  it  is  a  poem  in 
honor  of  Camillus.  At  the  epoch  we  have  reached,  the  basis  of 
history  is  true,  the  ornaments  with  which  it  is  decked  are  not  so.^ 
Diodorus  knows  nothing  of  the  dictatorship  of  Camillus  ;  Polybius 
relates  that  the  Gauls  regained  Umbria  with  their  booty ;  Suetonius, 
that  Livius  Drusus  recovered  a  century  later  the  ransom  of  Rome  ; 
others,  in  fine,  that  hard  conditions  were  imposed  by  the  conquerors. 
It  is  impossible  to  conceal  the  defeat  of  the  Allia,  the  capture  and 
burning  of  the  city.  Tlie  terror  with  which  the  mere  name  of  the 
Gauls  filled  the  minds  of  the  Romans  till  Caesar's  day,  witnessed  for 
more  than  two  centuries  that  it  was  simply  the  heedlessness  of 
the  barbarians  which  had  saved  Rome  from  complete  annihilation. 

1  Pint.,   Cavi.  28  ;    Livy,  v.  48. 

=  Against  the  story  of  Livy,  see  Polyb.,  ///.sV.  ii.  22;  Suet.,  Tih.  3;  Tac,  An7i.  xi.  24, 
and  Hist.  iii.  72  ;  Polyaen.,  Sirat.  viii.  25,  who  iiiontions  this  gate,  which  the  Romans  were 
to  keep  always  open,  but  says  that  they  opened  in  an  inaccessible  place,  on  the  Capitol 
itself,  the  gate  Pandana ;  lastly,  Frontinus,  who  speaks  of  the  provisions  and  means  of 
transport  in  Chap.  II.  vi.  1,  where  he  shows  that  oue  should  make  for  the  enemy  a  golden 
bridge. 


368  ■  ROME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

The  annalists  made  amends  for  this  painful  admission,  by  making, 
out  of  some  slight  successes  over  stragglers,  so  complete  a  victory 
that  not  a  barbarian  escaped  the  avenging  sword  of  Camillus. 


PRISONER.        FROM    A    OE^M    IN    THE    CABINET    DE    FRANCE,    NO.    2,G22    IN   THE 
CHABOUILLET    CATALOGUE. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

MILITARY  HISTORY  FROM  389  TO  343. 

I.   Eebuildi^^g  of  the  City  ;  The  Roman  Leoion'. 

IF  the  Capitol  was  safe,  Rome  was  in  ruins.  Several  tribunes 
Ijrought  forward  again,  it  is  said,  tlie  proposition  of  transferring 
a  part  of  the  plebeians  to  Veii,  whose  thick  walls  and  houses  were  still 
standing.  But  to  abandon  places  where  so  many  records  stirred 
patriotism,  where  dwelt  the  civic  divinities  and  the  household 
gods,  where  the  empire  had  l)een  founded,  and  whence  domination 
was  extended  over  the  surrounding  peoples ;  to  quit  the  sovereign 
city  for  the  conquered  town,  —  would  not  this  have  been  a  shame,  a 
crime  towards  the  gods,  and  a  great  political  blunder  ?  Camillus 
said  so,  and  so  the  Senate  thought ;  a  fortunate  omen,  the  "  Let 
us  stay  here ! "  of  the  centurion  who  was  crossing  the  Forum,  deter- 
mined the  still  irresolute  people  to  rebuild  the  city.  A  year  sufficed, 
for  the  Senate  gave  the  bricks,  the  wood  and  stones,  taken,  doubtless, 
from  Veii,  which  was  demolished  to  furnish  materials.  These  means 
were  cleverly  chosen  to  prevent  the  people  from  ever  conveying 
thither  their  Penates.  Once  more,  the  steadfastness  of  the  Senate 
saved  the  destinies  of  Rome.^ 

In  the  midst  of  'the  ruins  they  had  found  the  augural  staff 
of  Romulus,  the  Twelve  Tables,  some  fi\igments  of  royal  laws,  and 
some  treaties.  This  was  all  that  seemed  to  reniam  of  the  old  Roman 
society.  Rebuilt  at  random,  without  plan,  without  direction,  at 
the  caprice  of  every  one,  Rome  presented  in  its  material  aspect  the 
confusion  which  soon  appeared   in   its    political    state.     In    passing 

1  The  project  of  transferring  Rome  to  Veii  is  probably  only  an  oratorical  invention,  in 
whicli  was  found  a  pretext  for  eloquent  speeches,  like  the  story  that  Julius  Caesar  tliousbt 
of  transferring  it  to  Tlium.  All  religion,  all  rites,  were  totally  opposed  to  it :  what  would 
Terminus  and  Jupiter  Capitolinus  have  said? 

VOL.  I.  24 


370    ■  EOME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

over  the  soil,  the  Gallic  invasion  had  levelled  it ;  when  the  torrent 
had  disappeared,  a  new  city  and  almost  a  new  people  appeared. 

The  sword  of  the  barbarians  had  made  some  great  gaps  in 
the  population ;  ^  to  fill  them  up  and  prevent  a  dangerous  revolt 
of  their  subjects,  the  freedom  of  the  city  was  granted  to  tlie 
inhabitants  of  the  territory  of  Veil,  Capena,  and  Falerii ;  and  the 
first  censors  appointed  after  the  retreat  of  the  Gauls  formed  of 
them  four  new  tribes.^  It  was  a  very  serious  step  to  call  at  once 
so  many  men  to  a  share  of  the  sovereignty,  and  to  give  former 
subjects  four  votes  out  of  twenty-five  ;  Ijut  it  was  impossible  for 
Rome  otherwise  to  escape  from  the  perilous  situation  in  which 
the  Gauls  had  left  it,  and  the  Senate  did  not  hesitate  to  make 
the  necessary  sacrifice.  It  was  at  once  rewarded ;  for  doubtless 
this  concession  greatly  helped  the  success  of  the  Romans,  now 
left  without  allies  by  the  defection  of  part  of  the  Latins  and  Her- 
nicans,^  and  attacked,  before  they  were  fairly  out  of  their  ruinous 
state,  by  almost  all  their  neighbors. 

In  refusing  to  go  to  Veii,  the  Romans  took  upon  themselves  the 
work  of  reconstituting  both  their  city  and  their  empire  ;  and,  in 
spite  of  contrary  appearances,  the  double  work  of  reconstruction  Avas 
not  beyond  their  strength.  Their  neighbors  and  enemies  had  also 
suffered  from  the  mvasion,  especially  the  Aequians,  through  whose 
country  the  Gauls  had  perhaps  passed  to  reach  Apulia,  and  who 
seemed  to  have  lost  their  accustomed  boldness.  Besides,  these  wars 
were  always  merely  partial  or  badly  organized  attacks.  Whatever 
in  certain  cases  might  be  the  superiority  in  number,  the  Romans 
had  that  unity  of  feeling  in  the  soldiers  and  of  connnand  in  the 
chiefs  which  doubles  the  strength  of  armies. 

Still,  the  circumstances  were  very  critical.  Rome  had  never 
passed  through  a  more  dangerous  moment.  Camillus,  Avho  appears 
constantly  at  the  head  of  the  legions,  then  gained,  but  with  more 
ju,stice  than  in  the  Gallic  war,  the  title  of  second  founder  of  Rome.* 
At  home,  he  stimulated  all  parties  to  union  by  his  patriotic 
counsels,  or  he  sought,  by  his  firmness,  to  impose  on  them  peace. 

1  Tc5i'  T!\(l(TT(Dv  TTokiroiv  aTTn\a>\i')T(j>v.      (Diod..  xiv.  116,  8.) 

2  Stellatina,  Tromentina,  Sabatina,  and  Arniensis  (Livy,  vi.  5)  io  387. 

*  Livy,  vi.  2  .   .   .  defeclione  Lalinoruin  Ilernicorumque. 

*  Livy,  vi.  35-42. 


MILITARY    HISTORY   FROM   389   TO   ;54;}.  371 

111  the  camp  liis  skilful  reforms  prepared  the  vi(;t.ory  which  his 
talents  assured  im  the  field  of  battle.  Before  the  impetuous  attack 
of  the  Gauls  the  Eoman  legions  had  lied  ;  he  armed  the  soldiers 
with  long  spears,  which  stopped  the  iiiipctnosity  of  the  liarhariaiis, 
and  with  bronze  helmets,  with  bucklers  edged  with  an  iron  })late, 
against  which  their  badly-tempered  swords  were  blunted.  He  did 
more :  he    entirely   changed    the    Roman    tactics. 

We  know  not  the  name  of  the  man  who  created  this  animated 
and  living  body  known  as  the  Roman  legion,  who  knew  how  to 
combine  in  it  so  well  different  kinds  of  weapons,  that  it  was  pre- 
pared for  conquering  in  all  lands,  and  for  triumphing  over  all  forms 
of  troops  and  tactics,  —  stanch  and  united  before  the  swift  riders 
of  Mount  Atlas  or  the  disorderly  bands  of  barbarians ;  divisible 
and  light  before  the  Macedonian  phalanx  or  the  scythed  chariots 
and  elephants  of  Antiochus :  the  name  of  the  man  who  thus 
constituted  the  legion  into  a  complete  army  is  unknown.  Daily 
experience,  a  guerilla  warfare;,  and  continual  skirmishes,  doulitless 
taught  the  advantages  of  the  division  into  maniples  over  the  old 
organization  of  the  phalanx.  But  if  any  general  contributed  to  this 
change,  to  whom,  more  than  to  Camillus,  ought  we  to  assign  the 
honor  ?  The  records  fail  in  enabling  us  to  fix  the  date ;  it  is 
only  known  that  after  the  Gallic  wars,  at  the  battle  of  Vesuvius 
this  division  was  definitively  established.  Camillus  owed,  perhaps, 
to  it  the  numerous  successes  which  saved  Rome  the  second  time. 

He  repeatedly  beat  the  Volscians,  the  Aequians,  and  Tar- 
quinians,  who  could  not  prevent  the  Romans  from  placing  two 
colonies  in  Nepete  and  Sutrium,  and  he  did  not  leave  an  enemy 
between  the  Tiber  and  the  Ciminian  forest.'  But  on  the  left 
bank,  Antium,  protected  by  its  maritime  position,  Praeneste,  a  rich 
and  populous  city,  strongly  placed  and  almost  impregnable,  were 
in  arms,  and  received  numerous  volunteers  from  Latium.  A  victory 
of  the  dictator  Corn.  Cossus  seemed  yet  more  to  increase  the 
defections.  Velitrae,  Circei,  and  Lanuvium  revolted  ;  Camillus, 
raised  for  the  seventh  time  to  the  military  tribunate,  had  difficulty 

'  Xcpc'.te  was  tliirty  miles  from  Rome,  Sutrium  thirlv-two,  and  the  anltus  Ciminius  is  the 
wooded  chain  now  called  the  Mountains  of  Viterbo.  At  Sutrium  can  be  seen  the  very 
picturesque  remains  of  an  amphitheatre  cut  in  the  rock.  It  seems  to  belong  to  the  imperial 
epoch;  yet  some  anticjuarians  think  it  Etruscan. — Cf.  Dennis,  Etruria,\.  pp.  94-97. 


■Ji: 


EOME   UNDEE   THE   PATKICIAN   CONSULS. 


iu  warding  off  great  disasters.  In  379  the  Praenestines  penetrated 
to  the  CoUine  gate,  and  ravaged  all  the  country  between  the 
Tiber  and  Anio.  Overtaken  and  beaten  on  the  banks  of  the 
Allia  by  the  dictator  T.  Quinctius,  they  lost  eight  cities,  and 
begged  for  peace.  Three  years  after,  a  two  days'  battle  ended  the 
war  against  the  Antiates,  and  the  military  tribune  Servius  Sulpicius 
relieved   the    faithful    Tusculans,    who    had    been    attacked    by    the 


AMPHITHEATRE   OF    SUTRIUM. 


Latins.  These  were  important  successes  ;  but  Yelitrae  and  Circei 
had  not  been  punished  for  their  defection ;  Praeneste,  Antiuni,  and 
the  Volsci  did  not  acknowledge  their  defeat :  Rome  was  not  at 
that   time    sure   of   the    Latin    plain. 

To  these  wars  belongs  a  legend  which  perhaps  covers  an 
historic  fact  which  the  Roman  writers  refrain  from  telling  us. 
After  the  retreat  of  the  Gauls,  the  Fidenates,  in  league  with  some 
other  peoples,  had  penetrated  to  the  edge  of  the  Servian  walls ;  and 
as   the   price    of   withdrawal,    they    demanded    that   the  most  noble 


JMUJTAEY   HISTORY  FROM  3S'J  TO  343. 


373 


matrons  should  be  delivered  up  to  them.  Shame  and  anxiety  filled 
the  city,  when  a  female  slave,  whose  devotion  procured  for  her  the 
name  Tutela,  offered  to  surrender  herself  to  the  enemy,  together 
with  the  most  beautiful  of  her  companions,  clothed  as  matrons.  The 
Senators  agreed,  and  the  Fidenates,  full  of  boasting  at  this  humilia- 
tion of  Rome,  celebrated  it  l:)y  orgies  which  continued  for  some  time. 
When  drunkenness  had  closed  their  eyes,  Tutela,  having  climbed 
to  the  top  of  a  wild  fig-tree,^  called  the  Romans,  who  triumphed 
easily  over  their  unarmed  adversaries.  This  Latin  Judith  and  those 
who  had  followed  her  were  emancipated,  and  dowered  at  the  public 
expense.  Every  year,  on  the  nones  (7th)  of  July,  the  women  slaves, 
dressed  in  the  matron's  stola,  and  carrying  branches  of  the  fig-tree, 
celebrated,  by  a  sacrifice  in  the  temple  of  Juno  Caprotina,  the 
memory  of  those  who  had  saved  the  honor  of  the  Roman  ladies.^ 


II.   Return  of  the  Gauls  into  Latium  ;  Manlius  ;  Valerius 

CORVUS. 

The  Senones,  who  had  returned  to  their  own  country  with  the 
j^lunder  of  Rome,  had  very  soon  recommenced  their  adventurous 
expeditious.  In  37G  they  took 
the  important  town  of  Ari- 
miuum,  and  we  have  ases 
of  that  city  representing  a 
Gallic  head,  easily  recognizable 
by  the  moustache  and  the 
necklace  that  it  bears.  Of 
their  exploits  on  the  Adriatic 
coast  we  know  nothing ;  but 
they  had  not  forgotten  the 
route  through  the  Latin  dis- 
trict, which  they  had  with 
impunity  ravaged  for  seven 
months.  Twenty-three  years 
after  the    siege    of   the    Capitol,  they    reappeared,    and  reached  the 


AS    OP    ARIMINUM. 


1  Ej- 


'rhore  caprifico. 


=  Macr.,  Sat.  I.  xi.  35  -40. 


374  ROME    Uj^DEK   the   PATIlICIA]Sr   CONSULS. 

environs  of  the  Alban  Mount,  where  Camillus  gained  a  great 
victory  over  them,  tlianks  to  the  changes  he  had  effected  in  the 
equipment  of  tlie  sokhers  (867).  Polybius  does  not  speak,  it  is 
true,  of  this  last  triumpli  of  the  octogenarian  dictator  ;  but  he  is 
quite  ignorant  of  many  others  whicli  Roman  vanity  gives  in  detail. 
In  361,  say  the  annalists,  the  Gauls  encamped  on  the  via  Solaria, 
near  the  Anio.  A  bridge  separated  them  from  the  legions,  and 
every  day  a  warrior  of  gigantic  stature  came  there  to  insult  the 
Romans.  The  legionary  tribune  Manlius  accepted  the  challenge, 
slew  the  Gaul,  and  snatching  from  him  his  gold  necklace  [torques, 
whence  Torqiiatus),  put  it,  all  covered  with  blood,  on  his  own  neck. 
However,  the  barbarians,  apparently  invited  or  supported  by  Tibur, 
Praeneste,  and  the  Hernicans,  who  were  frightened  Ity  the  increasing 
strength  of  Rome,  ravaged  all  the  country  to  the  east  of  the  city, 
and,  passing  between  two  consular  armies,  reached  the  CoUine  gate.^ 
A  dictator  was  appointed ;  the  whole  body  of  youth  were  armed ; 
and  the  barbarians  were  thrown  back  in  disorder  upon  the  army 
of  the  consul  Poetilius,  who  pursued  them  as  far  as  the  environs  of 
Tibur,  whose  inhabitants,  having  gone  to  the  help  of  the  Gauls, 
were  involved  in  their  flight.  The  consul  at  his  triumph  obtained 
leave  to  mention  among  the  names  of  the  vanquished  that  of  the 
Tiburtines.  This  brave  population  of  one  of  the  smallest  cities  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Rome  protested  the  following  year,  by  insult- 
ing the  walls  of  Rome,  against  this  honor,  decreed  at  its  expense ; 
and  the  Gauls,  established  in  a  strong  position  around  Pedum,^ 
behind  an  entrenchment  formed  by  tlieir  war  chariots,  set  out  from 
there  for  incursions  into  Latium  and  Campania.  So  also,  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  Northmen  threw  themselves  audaciously  into  the 
midst  of  the  enemy's  country,  and,  making  a  camp  of  their  ships 
moored  on  the  shore  of  the  rivers,  went  forth  to  pillage  far  and 
wide. 

To  this  Latin  and  Gallic  war  was  added  another  more  terrible, 
called  forth  by  religious  fanaticism  and  political  hate  :  the  people  of 
Tarquinii  declared  war  (358  b.  c). 

All  was  in  a  state  of  conflagration  around  Rome.  For  three 
years  the  Gauls  were  encamped  in  the  midst  of  Latium,  and  Tibur, 

'  Livy,  vii.  11. 

^  Gallos  .  .  .  circa  Pedum.  (Livy,  vii.  12.)     He  says  elsewhere  of  Tibur,  arx  Gallici  belli. 


MILITARY   HISTORY   FROM   ;jS'J   TO   ;34o. 


375 


Praeneste,  Velitrae,  Privernum  seemed  in  league  with  them  ;  the 
Ilernicaus  remembered  having  recently  slain  the  plebeian  consul 
Genucius,  and  of  having  yielded  the  dictator  Appius  a  victoiy 
very  dearly  bought.  Then  lastly,  the  Tarquinians  had  inherited 
the  hate  of  Veil  against  their  neighbors  of  the  seven  hills,  and 
they  forced  Caere  into  alliance  with  them,  in  spite  of  the  bond 
of  public  hospitality  which  it  had   formed  with   Rome   during  the 


HUMAN    SACRIFICES.! 

Gallic  war.  Joined  in  addition  by  the  Faliscans,  the  Tarquinians 
went  to  the  fight,  conducted  by  their  priests,  who  brandished,  like 
the  Furies,  burning  torches  and  serpents.  The  army  of  Fabius 
gave  way  to  a  panic  at  sight  of  this  formidable  array,  and  three 
hundred  and  seven  legionaries,  being  made  prisoners,  were  sacrificed 
by  the  Tarquinians  to  their  gloomy  divinities. 

In  the  midst  of  so  much  peril  and  terror,  the  renewal,  with  the 
Latin  cities,  of  the  ancient  alliance  broken  up  by  the  Gallic  inva- 
sion, was  a  welcome  occurrence  (358).^  Worn  out  as  much  as 
Rome  by  the  prolonged  stay  of   the  barbarians,  the  Latins  united 


!  Taken  from  a  painting  on  an  Etruscan  tomb.     (Atlas  of  Noel  ties  Vergers.) 

2  Inter  mullo.i  Icrrorcs  solatia  fuit  .  .  .  miKjna  vis  militum  ab  iis  accepta.     (Livy,  vii.  12.) 

The  principal  cities  which  composed  the  new  alliance  were  Aricia,  Bovillae,  Gabii,  Lanuvium. 

Laurentum,  Lavinium,  Nomentum,  and  Tustulum. 


376 


ROME    UNDEE   THE   PATEICIAN   CONSULS. 


their  forces  to  the  legions,  and  the  Gauls  were  crushed.  In  their 
joy  the  Romans  regarded  this  victory  as  equal  to  that  of  Camillus. 
Fortune  returned;  the  Hernicans  were  this  same  year  beaten  and 
subjected ;  the  Volscians  crushed  so  completely,  that  this  brave 
people,  who  had  for  so  long  a  time  arrested  the  future  of  Rome, 
now  disappears  from  history.  In  order  to  preserve  these  advan- 
tages, and  to  prepare  new  resources  for  the  future,  the  Senate 
formed  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Pomptine  country  between 
Antium    and    Terracina,   two   new   tribes.     This    policy,   which  had 


WOUNDED    GAUL.l 


proved  so  useful  in  386  b.  c,  had  now  the  same  success.  The 
Privernates,  whose  city  was  situated  on  the  Amasenus,  which  comes 
down  to  Terracina,  were  annoyed  at  seeing  Roman  colonies  so 
near  them ;  but  their  defeat  assured  the  tranquillity  of  tlie  ancient 
Volscian  country.  The  inhabitants  of  Til)ur  and  Praeneste,  trusting 
to  their  rocks  and  walls,  preserved  a  threatening  attitude.  In  354 
they  decided  to  treat  for  peace  on  the  condition  of  keeping  their 
independence,  which  the  Senate  thought  it  best  to  respect.  From 
Rome  to  Terracina  all  was  at  peace. 

1  Tills  beautiful  statue  from  the  Capitoline  Museum  was  long  called  the  Dying  Gladiator. 
It  is  a  Gaul,  as  is  easily  seen  by  the  collar  Le  wears. 


MILITARY    lllSTOUV    FllOM   389   TO   343.  377 

Yet  on  tlae  north  of  the  Tiber  the  Etruscans  had  again 
ravaged  the  Roman  territory  as  far  as  the  salt-works  of  Ostia.  In 
order  to  drive  off  thes(>  pillagers,  Martins  Rutilus  was  appointed 
dictator  (35G).  He  was  a  iieLO  man.  The  patricians  would  fain 
have  avoided  a  plebeian  triumph  at  any  cost ;  but  the  people 
eagerly  assembled  under  a  general  who  had  risen  from  the  ranks. 
Martins  repulsed  the  enemy,  and,  in  spite  of  the  Senate,  by  the 
votes  of  the  tribes  he  re-entered   Rome  in  triumph. 

Some  3'ouths  from  Caere  had  taken  jiart  in  the  raids  of  the 
men  of  Tarquinii  into  Roman  territory.  The  Senate,  which  never 
left  desertion  unpunished,  declared  war  on  these  old  allies.  Caei'e 
did  not  close  its  gates,  its  ramparts  were  not  furnished  with 
engines,  and  none  of  its  citizens  took  arms ;  deputies  went  to 
Rome,  and  l^efore  the  assembled  people  in  the  Forum,  invoked  the 
memory  of  their  ancient  services ;  the  pure  and  religious  hospitality 
which  they  had  afforded  to  the  tlamens  and  Vestals  ;  and  how  their 
town  had  become  in  the  time  of  the  Gallic  iuA^asion  the  sanctuary 
of  the  Roman  people,  the  as3-lum  of  its  priests,  a  secure  refuge 
for  the  holy  things.  The  Roman  people,  usually  so  hard-hearted, 
were  softened  by  their  prayers  and  the  confidence  shown  towards 
them ;  they  granted  the  Caerites  a  truce  of  one  hundred  years, 
which  kept  up  the  memorj*  both  of  the  transgression  and  of  its 
pardon. 

In  .3-33  the  defeat  of  Faljius  was  avenged,  and  three  Imndred 
and  fifty-eight  Tarquinians  of  noble  family  were  beheaded  in  the 
Forum.^  Three  3'ears  later  that  people  asked  and  obtained  a  truce 
of  forty  3-ears. 

Men  now  looked  for  a  period  of  repose  ;  but  the  Gauls 
re-appeared  (349).  One  of  them,  remarkable  for  his  tall  stature, 
challenged  the  Romans  to  single  combat.  The  legionary  tribune 
M.  Valerius  haAdng  obtained  leave  from  the  consul  to  accept  the 
challenge,  renewed  the  exploit  of  jManlius,  to  which  the  annalists 
added  marvellous  circumstances.  A  raven,  said  they,  swooped 
down  on  his  helmet  during  the  combat,  and  troubled  the  Gaul 
by  striking  him  on  the  face  with  its  wings  and  beak ;  when  the 

^  Livy,  vii.  19.  These  Kttle  wars  were  very  bloody.  "  !Many  were  slain  on  the  field  of 
battle,"  says  Livy,  "  and  a  great  number  were  made  prisoners.  The  nobles  were  beheaded  at 
Rome,  vulgus  aliud  trucidatum." 


378 


EOME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 


ETRUSCAN  ■WARRIOR.l 


barbarian  fell,  the   bird    resumed  its  flight  and  disappeared  towards 
the  east.     The  soldiers  bestowed  the  surname  of    Corvus   upon  the 

victor,  and  fell  upon  the  enemy  in  full 
assurance  of  victory.  This  battle,  gained 
by  the  son  of  Camillus,  put  an  end  to 
the  Gallic  invasions.  The  barbarian  army, 
driven  out  of  Latium,  boldly  threw  itself 
into  Campania,  and  pushing  forward,  with- 
out thinking  of  its  return,  penetrated  as 
far  as  Apulia.  Eight  centuries  later  the 
Franks  renewed  these  daring  raids  with 
the  same  careless  confidence,  and  starting 
from  the  banks  of  the  Meuse,  went  straight 
before  them  till  they  were  stopped  Ijy  the  Straits  of    Messina. 

The  hero  of  this  last  contest,  Valerius  Corvus,  was  chosen 
consul  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  (in  346),  to  suppress  some 
movements  among  the  Volscians.  He  burned 
Satricum,  which  the  Antiates  had  rel^uilt.  In 
the  following  year  the  taking  of  Sora  on  the^ 
Liris,^  at  the  extremity  of  the  Volscian  country, 
and  a  victory  over  the  Aurunci,  who  inhabited 
a  group  of  volcanic  mountains  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  same  river,^  opened  the  road  to  Cam- 
pania to  the  Romans. 

These  wars  are  as  toilsome    to    read  about   as 
they    were    to    fight ;  and    even    the    art  of    Livy 
has    not    succeeded    in   making   them    interesting. 
ETRUSCAN  AHCHEK.*    g^^    ^    ^^^^^    natiou    lias    a   right    to    the    same 

curiosity    as    is   accorded   to   the    obscure    origin    of    a    great  man, 


'  Taken  from  Dennis,  Cities  and  Cemeteries  of  Eiruria. 

'^  Four  miles  below  Sora,  after  its  junction  with  the  Fibrenus,  the  Liris  forms,  near  the 
village  of  Isola.  one  of  the  most  beautiful  cascades  in  Italy.  The  river  there  falls  from  a 
total  height  of  more  than  100  feet.  (Craven,  A/iruzzi,  i.  93.)  Cicero  liad  a  house  near  the 
spot,  on  the  Isola  San  Paolo,  which  is  surrounded  by  the  Fibrenus.  He  was  born  there 
(de  Leg.  iv.  1),  and  it  was  about  this  vilLa  that  he  uttcre<l  tlie  beautiful  words  we  have 
quoted  on  p.  210. 

*  On  one  of  these  mountains,  now  called  ^lonte  di  Santa  Croce,  the  highest  peak  of  which 
rises  to  a  height  of  nearly  .3,300  feet  above  the  sea,  the  Aurunci  had  built  their  first  capital, 
Aurunca,  which  the  Sidicini  destroyed  in  337. 

*  Taken  from  a  painting  on  an  Etruscan  tomb  at  Caere. 


MILITAUY    HISTORY    FROM   389   TO   343. 


379 


and  we  must  not  show  ourselves  more  indifferent  than  Carthage 
and  Atlieus  were  to  the  phenomenon  of  such  tenacious  per- 
severance. Ah'eady  the  blows  struck  at  the  foot  of  the 
Apennines  were  heard  afar,  Greece  grew  interested  in  the 
defeats  of  the  Romans  as  well  as  in  their  victories,^  and  Carthage 
had  recently  renewed  the  treaty  which  she  had  concluded  with 
them  a  century  and  a  half  earlier.  A  hundred  and  sixty-five 
years  of  fighting  were  needful  for  them  to  regain  the  frontiers 
and  alliances  of  which  the  abolition  of  ro^'alty  had  deprived 
them.  The  power  of  this  people  had  grown  very  slowly;  but  in 
the  midst  of  these  dangers  and  miseries  its  sturdy  youth  had 
been  formed ;  and  it  is  by  slow  growth  that  men  become  strong, 
and  greatness  durable. 

*  The  capture  of  Rome  by  the  Gauls  was  known  in  Greece  shortly  after  the  event. 
Aristotle,  who  mentions  it,  names  one  Lucius  as  the  savior  of  the  city.  Niebulir  thinks  that 
this  Lucius  was  the  son  of  the  great  Camillus  and  the  victor  of  349. 


GALLIC    TORQUIS,    TAKEN   FROM    THE   MUSEUM    OF    SAINT-GERMAKJ. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

ACCESSION  or  THE  PLEBEIANS  TO  CUKULE  OFEICES. 

I.   The  Licinian  Laws  ;   Division  of  the  Consulships. 

WHILE  Rome  was  making  such  persevering  efforts  to  re-establish 
her  power  without,  within  the  city  the  tribunes  continued  the 
struggle  against  the  patriciate.  As  it  had  been  a  century  earlier, 
so  now  debts  were  the  cause  of  new  dissensions.  The  land-tax 
being  the  principal  revenue  of  the  state,  the  misfortunes  of  war, 
especially  when  it  drew  near  to  Rome,  had  the  double  result 
of  obliging  the  treasury  to  make  greater  demands  on  property, 
and  of  diminishing  at  the  same  time  the  value  of  the  land  and 
its  produce.  The  tax  became  heavier,  and  the  resources  which 
served  to  pay  it,  smaller.  Hence  came  debts,  as  numerous  after 
the  Gallic  invasion  as  they  had  l^een  after  the  royal  wars,  and 
the  two  revolutions  which  they  occasioned,  —  the  one  giving  rise 
to  the  tribuneship,  the  other  which  resulted  in  the  sharing  of 
the  curule  offices. 

In  389  B.  c.  it  became  necessary  to  rebuild  the  burned  town. 
Doubtless  the  house  of  a  plebeian  cost  but  little  to  reconstruct. 
But  whence  was  a  man  who  had  lost  everything,  furniture  and 
flocks,  to  draw  the  means  of  getting  his  little  field  under  cultiva- 
tion again,  sheltering  his  family,  buying  a  few  cattle,  and  paying 
the  war  tax,  the  tax  for  the  Capitol,^  the  tax  for  re-building  the 
temples  and  walls,  unless  he  drew  it  from  his  patron's  purse  ? 
The  allotment  of  lands  made  to  the  plebeians  in  the  territory  of  Veil 
had  been  another  cause  of  borrowing.     As  the  state  only  gave  tli(> 

1  New  construotions  were  erected  there,  to  render  it  inaccessible  from  tlie  Tiber,  on 
whicli  side  it  had  been  considered,  until  the  Gallic  invasion,  that  the  river  sufficiently  defended 
the  approaches. 

/ 


o 


w 

H 

Em 
O 


ACCESSION   OF    THE   I'LEBEIANS   TO   CUEULE   OFFICES.     381 

land,  it  was  often  necessary  for  some  rich  man  to  advance  the 
funds  for  the  agricultural  implements,  flocks,  and  seeds  necessary 
to  stock  the  seven  jiujrra.  But  the  rate  of  interest  was  heavy, 
the  creditor  i^itiless :  the  er(ja>itula  wei'e  again  crowded :  Camilhis 
himself  was  distinguished  for  his  cruelty. 

Here  we  come  u2)on  an  obscure  story.  Livj^,  the  unconscious 
but  constant  echo  of  patrician  hatred,  relates  that  Marcus  Manlius 
Capitolinus,  jealous  of  the  glory  of  Camillus,  and  irritated  at  being 
overlooked  in  the  distribution  of  offices,  constituted  himself  the  patron 
of  the  poor,  and  delivered  as  many  as  four  hundred  debtors  from 
prison.  Every  day  the  crowd  increased  around  him  and  his 
house  on  the  Capitol.  "  The  great  oppress  and  ruin  you,"  he 
urged ;  '•'  not  satisfied  with  appropriating  the  state  lands,  they 
embezzle  the  pulalic  money.  They  are  hiding  the  money  re- 
captured from  the  Gauls,  and  while  you  are  exhausting  yom- 
last  resources  in  restoring  to  the  temj)les  their  treasures,  they 
reserve  for  their  pleasures  the  money  which  they  receive  for  a 
sacred  work."  Against  him  as  much  as  against  the  Volscians  a 
dictator  was  appointed,  Cornelius  Cossus,  who  on  his  return  from 
the  campaign  cast  him  into  prison.  A  senatus-consultum  having 
restored  him  to  liberty,  two  tribunes,  won  over  by  the  patricians, 
or  themselves  jealous  of  his  popularity,  accused  him  of  high 
treason.  In  the  comitia  centuriata  Manlius  recalled  his  exploits: 
he  displayed  the  arms  of  thirty  enemies  slain  by  him,  eight 
civic  crowns,  thirty-two  military  rewards,  the  wounds  which 
covered  his  breast,  and  the  Capitol  which  he  had  saved !  This 
sight,  these  Avords,  excited  the  compassion  of  the  people,  and  he 
would  have  been  acquitted,  when  the  assembly  was  broken  up, 
and  the  judgment  deferred  till  another  day.  In  a  meetmg  of 
the  people  held  in  a  place  whence  the  citadel  of  Rome  could 
not  l)e  perceived,  or  according  to  others  by  the  sentence  of 
the  Duumvirs,^  he  was  condemned  to  death.  By  Dion's  account, 
Manlius,  having  occupied  the  Capitol  with  his  partisans,  was 
precipitated  from  the  Tarpeian  rock-  by  a  traitor  whom  he 
trusted.  His  house  on  the  Capitol  was  razed  to  the  ground,  it 
was  forbidden  for  any  one  ever  to  build  on  that  hill,  and  the  gens 

1  Duumviri  pcrduellionis.  2  gee  p.  335. 


382  HOME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN    CONSULS. 

Manila  decided  that  none  of  its  memlaers  should  henceforth  bear 
the  praenomen  of  Marcus  (384).^ 

Manhus,  who  shared  the  fate  of  Cassius  and  Maelius,  must 
have  been  sacriiiced  hke  them  to  the  hatred  of  the  nobles  ;  ^  but 
he  was  doubtless  only  a  vulgar  agitator :  C.  Licinius  Stolo  and 
L.  Sextius  were  true  reformers.  They  were  rich  and  noble 
plebeians,  to  whom  the  equality  of  the  two  orders  through  the 
military  tribuneship  only  appeared  a  political  lie :  from  400  to 
367  B.  c.  there  had  been  only  fifteen  plebeians  elected  to  the  military 
tribuneshiia.  Livy,  who  like  so  many  other  historians  is  fond  of 
assigning  great  events  to  small  causes,^  relates  '•  that  a  senator, 
Fabius  Ambustus,  had  married  the  elder  of  his  two  daughters  to 
the  j^'T-ti'lcian  Serv.  Sulpicius,  and  the  second  to  a  rich  plebeian, 
Licinius  Stolo.  One  day  the  two  sisters  were  conversing  in  the 
house  of  Sulpicius,  when  he,  at  that  time  military  triliune, 
returned  from  the  Forum  preceded  by  his  lictor,  who,  according 
to  custom,  knocked  at  the  door  with  his  rod.  At  this  noise 
the  young  Fabia  grew  disturbed ;  then  she  expressed  astonishment 
at  the  numerous  retinue  which  followed  the  tribime.  The 
elder  laughed  at  both  her  astonishment  and  ignorance,  and  her 
raillery  showed  the  wide  gulf  placed  between  her  and  her  sister 
by  marriage,  which  had  led  the  latter  mto  a  house  wherein 
honors  could  never  enter.  Fabia  was  so  hurt  by  this,  that  her 
father  noticed  her  vexation,  and  joromised  her  that  she  should 
one  day  see  in  her  own  home  the  dignities  which  she  had  seen 
at  her  sister's.  From  that  time  he  began  to  concert  plans  with 
his  son-in-law  and  another  young  man  of  strong  energy,  L. 
Sextius." 

It  is  a  pretty  incident ;  Livy  is  never  loth  to  scatter  a 
few  flowers  through  the  severe  history  of  the  least  romantic  of 
nations ;  and  we  do  the  same,  but  without  any  belief  in  them. 
The  young  Fabia  had  often  at  her  father's  home  or  at  the  houses 
of  family  friends  heard  the  lictor's  knock,  and  had  often  seen  the 
retinue  which  always  followed  magistrates  and  persons  of  importance. 
Nothing   of   all  this    could  have    surprised   her,  then,  and  she  well 

1  Livy,  vi.  14-20. 

"...  Inimicorum  oppressus  factione.     (Serv.,  in  Aen.  viii.  G5'2.) 

'  Paroa,  ut  pleruimiuc  sold,  rem  inijentem  moiiundi  causa  inlerrenil.     (Livy,  vi.  34.) 


ACCESSION   OF   THE   PLEBEIANS   TO   CURULE   OFFICES.     383 

knew,  in  marrying  Liciniiis,  in  what  condition  that  plebeian  would 
place  her.  The  revolution  which  was  preparing  no  more  arose 
from  the  jealousy  of  a  woman,  than  the  Trojan  war  was  caused  by 
the  abduction  of  Helen;  it  was  the  last  act  of  a  struggle  carried 
on  for  one  hundred  and  twenty  years,  and  which  had  never 
stayed  its  course  for  one  single  day. 

Licinius  Stolo  and  L.  Sextius,  being  appointed  tribunes  of 
the  people  in  376  b.  c,  formally  demanded  the  division  of  the 
consulship ;  and  in  order  to  compel  the  plebeians  to  take  an 
interest  in  this  question,  they  presented  the  following  resolu- 
tions :  — 

In  future  no  more  military  tribunes  shall  be  appointed,  but 
two  consuls,  of  whom  one  must  always  be  a  plebeian.  No  one 
shall  possess  more  than  500  jurjera  (about  312  acres)  of  public 
land.  Interest  already  paid  shall  be  deducted  from  the  principal, 
and  the  remainder  shall  be  repaid  in  three  years  by  equal 
instalments.^ 

The  moment  for  the  final  struggle  had  then  arrived.  It 
was  worthy  of  its  earlier  stages.  There  was  no  useless  violence, 
but  on  both  sides  admirable  perseverance.  For  ten  successive 
years  the  tribunes  obtained  their  re-election.  In  vain  did  the 
Senate  gain  over  their  colleagues,  whose  veto  suspended  their 
action,  and  in  vain  twice  have  recourse  to  the  dictatorship.  Camil- 
lus,  threatened  with  a  heavy  fine,  and  perhaps  Avith  a  second  exile 
in  his  old  age,  abdicated  ;  and  Manlius,  wlien  proclaimed  after  him, 
chose  a  plebeian,  Licinius  Calvus,  as  Chief  of  the  Cavalry.  The 
sanctity  of  religion  was  emploj-ed  as  a  means  of  opposition  to  the 
tribunes;  there  was  not  a  plebeian  in  the  priesthood. 

In  order  to  destroy  this  movement,  and  avert  the  interven- 
tion of  the  gods,  which  the  senators  would  have  claimed  to  read 
in  the  oracles  of  the  Sibyl,  they  added  this  fourth  clause,  which 
the  Senate  accepted  in  order  to  invest  its  own  side  with  an 
appearance  of  justice :  "  Instead  of  duumvirs  for  the  Sibylline 
books,  decemvirs  shall  in  future  be  appointed,  of  whom  five  shall 
be   plebeians." 

The    people,   however,   wearied   with    such    prolonged    debates, 

'  Livy,  vi.  35 ;  Colura.,  i.  3 ;  Dionys.,  viii.  73. 


384  ROME    UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

were  on  the  point  of  iDetraying  their  own  cause  :  they  no  longer 
demanded  more  than  the  two  laws  concerning  debts  and  land, 
which  the  patricians  were  disposed  to  yield.  But  the  tribunes 
declared  the  three  propositions  inseparable  :  they  must  he  adopted 
or  rejected  together.  The  comitia  of  tribes  voted  for  them,  the 
Senate  accepted  them,  and  the  centuries  proclaimed  Lucius  Sextius, 
one  of  the  two  tribunes,  consul.  In  their  Curiae  the  patricians 
refused  the  imjierium  to  the  plebeian  consul,  and  the  battle, 
which  was  on  the  point  of  ending,  began  again  more  fiercely 
than  ever.  The  details  of  this  last  struggle  are  little  known. 
There  is  vague  mention  of  terrible  threats,  and  of  a  new  seces- 
sion of  the  people.  Camillus  interposed.  He  had  just  won  his 
last  victory  over  the  Gauls ;  five  times  dictator,  seven  times 
military  tribune,  full  of  glory  and  honors,  he  desired  a  repose 
worthy  of  his  sixty  years  of  service.  Won  over  by  his  counsel 
and  example,  the  Senators  yielded,  the  election  of  Sextius  was 
ratified,  and  Camillus,  closing  the  age  of  revolutions  for  a  century 
and  a  half,  vowed  a  temple  to  Concord  (366  b.  c.).^ 

The  gates  of  the  political  city,  then,  were  at  last  forced ; 
the  plebeians  now  in  timi  take  their  seat  on  the  ciu'ule  chair. 
In  token  of  the  admission  of  these  new-comers  into  the  real 
Roman  people,  there  was  added  to  the  three  festal-days  of  the 
great  games  held  in  honor  of  the  three  ancient  tribes,  a  fourth 
day  for  the  plebeians.^ 


II.   The  Plebeians  gain  Admission  to  all  Offices. 

The  adoption  of  the  Licinian  laws  marks  a  new  era  in  the 
history  of  the  Republic.  But  were  these  laws  faithfully  observed  ? 
and  what  were  the  consequences  to  the  great,  to  the  populace, 
and   to   the    fortune   of    Rome  ?      These    are    the    questions  which 

1  The  magnificent  ruins  wliich  still  remain  of  the  Temple  of  Coneord  do  not  Itelong  to  the 
edifice  erected  hy  Camillus,  which  appears  to  have  been  built  at  the  Ca])itol  (Ovid,  Fast.  i. 
C37),  and  of  which  nothing  i.s  left,  nor  to  that  of  Flavins,  which,  according  to  Pliny  (xxxiii. 
G,  3),  was  only  a  bronze  chapel  raised  on  the  Vulcanal,  above  the  Comitium ;  they  formed  part 
of  a  temple  of  Concord,  of  which  mention  is  often  made  in  the  last  days  of  the  Repubhc,  and 
which  was  situated  at  the  foot  of  the  Tahularium. 

2  Dionys.,  vii.  4L_ 


ACCESSION   OF  THE   PLEBEIANS  TO  CURULE  OFFICES.     385 

we  are  about  to  examine ;  separating,  for  greater  clearness,  the 
political  laws  from  social,  or  such  as  related  to  debts  and 
property. 

The  patricians  never  frankly  accepted  popular  victories.  On 
the  morrow  of  their  defeat  they '  began  again  disputing  step  Ijy 
step  the  ground  they  had  lost  on  the  preceding  day,  multiplying 
obstacles  in  order  to  put  off  the  evil  day,  when  the  equality 
which  they  looked  upon  as  sacrilege  must  be  finally  achieved. 
This  time  they  yielded  the  consulship  itself,  but  the  consulship 
dismembered.  Two  new  patrician  magistracies  were,  in  fact, 
created  at  its  expense,  —  the  jiraetorship,  for  the  administration  of 
justice,  the  formulae  of  which  were  unknown  to  the  plebeians, 
and  the  curule  aedilesMp,^  for  the  city  police  (366).  Class  interest 
was,  for  this  once,  in  accord  with  public  interest.  The  patricians 
gave  their  own  order  three  new  offices,  but  they  gave  the  Republic 
three  necessary  magistracies. 

The  great  pre-occupation  of  modern  governments  is,  or  ought  to 
be,  to  protect  the  fortune  and  life  of  citizens,  to  develop  instruction 
and  commerce,  to  diminish  misery  and  vice.  The  Romans  of  the 
early  times  had  no  such  cares.  They  considered  their  task  ended 
when  they  had  provided  for  internal  peace  and  the  security  of  the 
frontiers ;  the  rest  concerned  only  individuals.  The  Romans  of 
the  time  of  which  we  speak  were  beginning  to  understand  that 
it  was  for  the  interest  of  the  treasury  to  establish  a  supervi- 
sion over  their  public  buildings,  which  were  now  rapidly  increas- 
ing in  number ;  also  that  their  city,  as  it  grew  larger,  required 
an  organized  protection  in  the  streets  against  fires,  in  the  mar- 
kets against  fraud,  in  the  baths,  taverns,  and  dangerous  quarters, 
against  brawls.  Finally,  in  times  of  scarcity  it  was  necessary 
to  buy  wheat  abroad,  and  sell  it  to  the  people  at  a  low 
price.^  The  plebeian  aediles  no  longer  sufficed  for  this  work, 
and  it  was  well  to  double  their  number.  "The  Senate  having 
decreed,"  says  Livy,  "that  in  order  to  thank  the  gods  for  the 
re-establishment  of  concord  between  the  plebs  and  the  patriciate 
a  foiu-th  day  should  be  added  to  the  Roman  games,  the  plebeian 

1  .  .  .  Quod  pro  consule  uno  plebeio  tres  patricios  magistratus  .  .  .  nobilitas  sibi  siimpsisset. 
(Livy,  vii.  I.)  The  curule  aedilesliii)  formed  a  college  composed,  like  the  plebeian  aedilesliip, 
of  two  members ;    at  first  there  was  only  one  praetor. 

"  Cicero  {de  Leg.  iii.  3)  names  the  aediles :  Curatores  urbis,  annonae,  ludorumque  solemnium. 

VOL.  I.  25 


386      •  EOME    UNDER   THE   PATKICIAN   CONSULS. 

aediles  refused  to  sanction  this  expenditure,  and  in  order  to  avoid 
the  omission  of  this  lionor  towards  the  immortal  gods,  some 
young  nobles  offered  to  take  the  expense  upon  themselves,  on 
condition  that  they  should  be  appointed  aediles.^  Here  again 
we  find  anecdote  taking  the  place  of  history.  We  have  just  seen 
the  serious  reasons  which  led  to  this  creation.  Moreover,  the 
new  magistracy  l^ecame  almost  immediately  common  to  the  two 
orders. 

The  praetorship  was  in  like  manner  a  necessary  duplicate  of 
the  consulship.  As  the  state  became  greater,  more  frequent  and 
more  distant  wars  left  the  first  magistrates  of  the  Republic  but  little 
time  to  occupy  themselves  with  civil  justice,  and  the  recent 
agrarian  law  of  Licinius  Stolo  was  sure  to  multiply  law-suits 
to  an  extraordinary  degree.  Although  the  division  of  power 
was  not  a  very  Roman  idea,  men  saw  the  utility  of  insuring 
the  regular  course  of  justice  by  always  having  at  Rome  a 
magistrate  charged  with  its  administration,  to  supplement  the 
absent  consul.  In  order  to  mark  the  sul)ordinate  character  of 
the  praetor,  only  six  lictors  were  allowed  him.^  But  he  was 
elected,  like  the  consul,  in  the  comitia  centuriata  and  with  the 
same  auspices ;  he  presided,  in  the  consul's  absence,  at  the 
meetings  of  the  people  and  the  Senate ;  and  the  imperium,  which 
he  possessed  from  the  outset,  allowed  him  in  later  times  to 
assume  the  functions  of  leader  of  the  army  and  of  provincial 
governor.  His  judicial  competence  was  summed  up  in  three  words : 
Do,  I  give  the  judge  and  the  mode  of  procedure ;  Dico,  I 
declare  the  right ;  Addico,  I  adjudge  the  object  of  the  suit. 
On  his  entry  into  office,  the  praetor  gradually  fell  into  the 
habit  of  publishing  an  edict,  in  which  he  indicated  the  rules 
of  jurisprudence  which  he  intended  to  follow ;  we  shall  see  that 
this  edictum  jjraetoriicm  by  degrees  transformed  all  the  Roman 
legislation. 

So  much  good  resulted  from  this  institution,  that  twenty 
years  later  there  was  appointed  a  second  praetor  for  disputes  be- 
tween citizens  and  foreigners,  —  the  2)raetor  peregrinus.      He  must, 

^  Livy,  vi.  42;  vii.  1.  .  .  .  postea  promiscuum.  fuit. 

2  There  were  two  praetors  in  342  B.  c,  four  in  227,  six  in  197,  eight  under  Sylla.  Wo 
shall  see  later  the  reasons  for  these  different  aut^mentations. 


■< 
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o 


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ACCESSION    OF   THE   PLEBEIANS   TO   CURULE   OFFICES.     387 

by  reason  of  liis  office,  be  vensed  in  foreign  customs,  jus  gen- 
tium, as  well  as  national  usages,  jus  civile,  and  bis  edicts  prepared 
tbe  way  for  the  fusion  of  these  rights.  Rome  possessed,  then, 
from  this  time  forth,  the  two  workmen  who  were  slowly  collect- 
ing the  numberless  materials  wherewith  the  jurisconsults  were  to 
construct  the  magnificent  monument  of  the  Pandects. 

The  consuls  retained  the  command  of  the  armies,  the  presidency 
of  the  Senate,  and  the  raising  of  troops.  These  were  still  too  high 
prerogatives  for  the  patricians  not  to  seek  to  recover  them.  The 
dictatorshi23  was  left  them ;  they  made  use 
of  it  either  to  preside  over  the  comitia  and 
influence  the  election  of  consuls,  or  to  snatch 
from  a  plebeian  general  the  honors  of  a  suc- 
cessful war.     Between  oGo  and  344,  a  period 

of   only    twenty    years,   there    were    fourteen  

dictators.  seat  kou  a 

The  one  who  stood  at  the  head  of  this  long  lectisternium.i 

list  was  Manlius  Imperiosus.  The  plague  was  raging  with  murder- 
ous intensity,  and  had  carried  oft"  Camillus ;  the  Tiber  overflowed 
its  banks;  an  earthquake  had  opened  in  the  midst  of  the  Forum 
an  abyss  into  which  Curtius  is  said  to  have  leaped  fully 
armed.  In  order  to  appease  the  angry  gods,  new  games,  drawn 
from  Etruria,  had  been  celebrated,  mingled  with  songs  and  dances 
to  the  sound  of  the  flute  ;  then  the  statues  of  the  great  gods 
had  been  laid  on  beds  and  invited,  as  a  pledge  of  reconciliation, 
to  a  sacred  banquet  (lectisternium).  Maidius  having  been  appointed 
dictator  in  order  to  drive  the  sacred  nail  into  the  temple  of  Jupiter, 
refused,  when  the  ceremony  was  ended,  to  resign  his  powers  ;  he 
retained  his  twenty-four  lictors,  and  announced  a  levy  against 
the  Hernicans.  This  prolonged  suspension  of  the  consular  power 
coincided  too  well  with  the  views  of  the  Senate,  which  was  ready 
to  respect  the  dictatorial  power  under  such  circumstances.  But 
the  tribune  Pomponius  accused  the  dictator.  Among  other 
grievances  he  reproached  him  with  his  conduct  towards  his  own 
son,  banished  from  the  domestic  Penates,  exiled  to  the  fields, 
and     condemned     to     servile     labors.       "  This    son    of    a    dictator 

'  Marble  seat,  preserved  in  the  Glyptothek  at  Munich,  on  wliich  was  placed  the  statue  of 
a  god  in  the  ceremony  of  the  lectisternium. 


388  ROME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

learned,  by  a  daily  punishment,  that  lie  was  born  of  a  father 
worthy  of  his  surname  [Imperiosus).  And  what  was  his  crime  ? 
He  had  a  difficulty  in  expressing  himself.  Instead  of  correcting 
this  natural  defect  by  education,  Manlius  aggravates  the  evil  ; 
he  retards  still  further  this  dull  spirit ;  and  whatever  vivacity  and 
intelligence  remain  to  his  son  will  l)e  extinguished  Ijy  the  rustic 
habits  which  he  imposes  on  him."  A  singular  reproach  in  the 
mouth  of  a  tribune !  But  every  kind  of  weapon  was  employed. 
Moreover  the  Romans,  like  the  English  of  ovu-  own  day,  were 
proud  of  their  nobility,  and  were  unwilling  that  any  young 
patrician  should  be  brought  up    in  a  manner  unworthy  of  his  birth. 

While  all  the  people  were  indignant  with  Manlius,  the  victim, 
grieved  at  being  a  sul^ject  of  prosecution  to  his  father,  conceived 
a  project  which  set  an  example,  to  be  commended,  indeed,  but  not 
withoiit  danger  in  a  free  city.  Unknowir  to  any  one,  with  a 
dagger  hidden  under  his  robe,  he  came  to  the  house  of  Pomponius 
one  morning,  gave  his  name,  and  insisted  on  l:)eing  admitted. 
Every  one  retired,  in  order  to  leave  him  alone  with  the  tribune. 
Then  he  drew  his  dagger,  and  threatened  to  stab  Pomponius,  who 
was  still  in  bed,  unless  he  swore,  in  terms  which  he  dictated  to 
him,  "  never  to  convoke  an  assembly  of  the  people  to  accuse  the 
dictator."  The  tril)une,  finding  himself  at  the  mercy  of  an  armed 
man,  young  and  powerful,  grew  frightened,  and  repeated  the  oath 
imposed  on  him.  The  people  were  dissatisfied  to  see  their  victim 
escape,  but  they  willingly  rewarded  the  young  man's  filial  piety 
hy  appointing  him  legionary  tribune." '  The  chiefs  of  the  plebs, 
who  knew  how  to  profit  not  only  by  their  hatred,  but  by  their 
affections,  seized  this  opportunity  to  claim  for  the  comitia  the 
nomination  of  six  of  those  officers  (3G2  B.  c). 

Four  times  more,  in  the  four  following  years,  the  Senate  had  re- 
course to  the  dictatorship.  But  this  supreme  office  was  itself  invaded. 
In    356  "  the  danger  of   the  war  against    the  Etruscans  caused   the 

'  Livy,  vii.  4,  5. 

^  The  preceding  year  was  marked  by  tlie  establishment  of  a  tax  of  5  per  cent  on  enfran- 
chisements. Tliis  tax  was  established  in  connection  with  Privernian  prisoners,  released  on 
ransom  by  the  soldiers  of  the  consul  Marcius.  His  colleague,  Manlius,  had  caused  it  to  be  voted 
by  the  array  encamped  near  Sutrium.  The  tribunes  accepted  the  law,  but  instituted  the  punish- 
ment of  death  for  any  one  who  should  renew  this  dangerous  precedent  of  calling  on  his  army 
to  discuss  public  affairs.    (Livy,  vii.  1  fi.)     Let  us  notice  that  this  tax  must  be  paid  in  gold,  and 


ACCESSION   OF  THE   PLEBEIANS  TO  CUEULE   OFFICES.     389 

proclamation  of  Marcius  Rutilus,  one  of  the  most  illustrious 
plebeians,  as  dictator,  who  four  years  latcn-  also  became  the  first 
censor  of  his  order. 

The  plebeian  consulsliip  was  the  door,  as  it  were,  which  gave 
access  to  the  sanctuary.  The  patricians  tried  to  close  it ;  from  355 
to  341  they  managed  to  have  the  two  consuls  taken  from  their 
ranks  on  seven  occasions.  Three  years  earlier,  the  Poetelian  law 
had  forbidden  canvassing  {amhitus),  in  order  to  diminish  the 
chances  of  success  of  new  men,  who,  being  little  known  among 
the  rural  tribes,  travelled  through  the  country  soliciting  votes 
(358).  Yet  the  plebeian  consulship  had  not  been  the  reward  of 
the  seditious  or  of  demagogues.  Licinius  and  Sextius  were  only 
once  honored  with  this  office,  and  for  a  long  time  after  them  no 
tribune  succeeded  in  oljtaining  it ;  for  in  order  to  restrict  the 
number  of  consular  plebeians,  the  patricians  combined  m  favor 
of  the  same  candidates,  preferring  to  see  the  same  men  consul  four 
times  rather  than  the  consulship  be  given  to  four  new  men.^  In 
twenty-seven  years  they  had  permitted  only  eight  plebeians  to 
arrive  at  the  consulship.  Even  this  was  nmch.  What  did  the 
ability  of  Marcius  and  Popilius  matter?  Could  their  services 
efface  the  stain  of  their  birth  ?  This  imprudent  attempt  on  the 
part  of  the  patricians  completed  their  defeat.  The  rich  plebeian 
families  grew  angry  at  bemg  deprived  of  what  the  perseverance  of 
Licinius  had  gained  for  them.  As  for  the  poor,  ruined  then,  as 
always,  by  usury,  they  were  then,  as  always,  disposed  to  insur- 
rection. 

After  the  first  Samnite  war  the  Romans  had  placed  a  garrison 
at  Capua.  In  that  lovely  country  the  legionaries  remembered  the 
creditors  who  awaited  them  at  Rome,  and  also  the  means  employed 
by  the  Samnites  twenty-four  years  before  to  obtain  possession  of 
the  town,  when,  having  been  received  by  the  Campanians  as 
friends,  they  had  one  feast-day  fallen  upon  them  unarmed  and 
butchered  them  all.  The  plot  was  discovered.  To  avert  the 
execution  of  it,  the  consul  Marcius   Rutilus    sent  the  soldiers  away 

all  lodged  in  the  treasury,  where  it  constituted  a  reserve  fund,  which  it  was  forbidden  to  touch, 
save  in  cases  of  extreme  necessity. 

*  Marcius  and  Popilius  were  four  times  consuls ;  Plautius  and  Genucius  three  times,  etc. 
It  seems,  too,  that  a  single  magistrate  had  united  several  oifices.     (See  next  page.) 


390  ROME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN  CONSULS. 

by  cohorts.  But  they  re-assembled  at  the  defiles  of  Lautulae,  passo 
dl  Portella,  a  narrow  pass  between  the  sea  and  the  mountains, 
which  it  was  necessary  to  traverse  in  going  from  Fundi  to  Ter- 
racina,  that  is  to  say,  from  Campania  into  Latium.^  When  their 
bauds  reached  the  proportions  of  an  army,  they  marched  upon 
Rome  to  the  numl^er  of  twenty  thousand,  calling  on  all  who  were 
enslaved  for  debt  to  join  them.  Near  Bovillae  they  fortified  a 
camp,  ravaged  the  neighboring  lands ;  and  having  found  a 
patrician,  T.  Quinctius,  in  his  villa  near  Tusculum,  they  com- 
pelled him  to  put  himself  at  their  head.  A  revolt  of  the  plebeians 
res]3onded  to  that  of  the  soldiers.  They  marched  oi;t  of  Rome  and 
camped  four  miles  from  its  walls.  A  popular  dictator,  Valerius 
Corvus,  was  appointed ;  Ijut  his  soldiers,  instead  of  fighting,  sided 
with  their  comrades ;  and  all  together  demanded  and  obtained :  ^  — 

1.  A  general  amnesty  and  complete  forgiveness  of  the  past. 

2.  A  military  regulation  providing  that  the  legionary  serving 
under  the  standard  should  not,  without  his  own  consent,  be  erased 
from  the  registers,  —  that  is  to  say,  be  deprived  of  the  advantages 
attached  to  military  service,^  —  and  that  one  who  had  served  as 
tribune  should  not  be  enrolled  as  centurion. 

3.  A  reduction  in  the  pay  of  the  knights. 

The  plebeians  on  their  part,  having  returned  into  the  city,  voted, 
on  the  proposal  of  the  tribune  Genucius,  the  following  laws,  which 
had  the  double  object  of  relieving  the  poor  and  preventing  offices 
becoming  the  hereditary  patrimony  of  a  few  families  (342  b.  c.)  :  — 

4.  No  one  should  be  re-eligible  for  the  same  office  till  after  an 
interval  of  ten  years,  and  no  one  should  be  invested  with  two 
magistracies  at  the  same  time. 

5.  Both  the  consuls  might  be  plebeians. 

G.  Loans  on  interest  and  debts  to  be  abolished,  the  nexi  to  be 
released.* 

In  these  grave    circumstances  the  Senate  had  shown  a  spirit  of 

'  The  passage  is  so  narrow,  that  a  tower  and  a  gate  are  enough  to  dose  it.  It  was,  not. 
long  since,  the  boundary  between  the  States  of  the  Church  and  the  Neapolitan  Kingdom. 

-  Livy,  vii.  38,  42  :  Lex  sacrata  militaris. 

'  Tlie  legionary  serving  under  the  standard  coidd  not  bo  pursued  by  his  creditors ;  and 
if  the  campaign  was  successful,  he  found  himself  able,  with  his  share  of  the  booty,  to  pay 
or  diminish  his  debts. 

*  Tac,  Ann.  vi.  IG. 


ACCESSION   OF   THE    I'LEBEIAI^S   TO   CUEULE   OFFICES.     391 

conciliation,  of  -wliicli  it  again  made  proof  two  years  later,  when  it 
allowed  the  plebeian  dictator,  Publilius  Philo,  to  strike  the  last  blow 
at  the  old  regime  by  the  svippression  of  the  legislative  veto  of  the 
Senate  (339  B.  c).     The  following  laws  were  also  passed  :  — 

1.  The  plebiscita  should  be  binding  on  all.' 

2.  Every  law  presented  for  the  acceptance  of  the  coniitia 
centuriata  should  be  approved  beforehand   by  the  Senate.^ 

3.  One  of  the  censors  must  be  always  cliosen  from  the  plebeians  ; 
both  consuls  might  belong  to  that  order. 

The  last  of  these  laws  was  the  application  to  the  censorship 
of  the  Licinian  law  on  the  consulship.  By  means  of  the  other 
two,  Publilius  Philo  wished  to  concentrate  the  legislative  power 
in  the  centuries  and  tribes,  in  order  to  avert  the  possibility  of 
a  conflict  between  the  two  sovereign  assemblies  and  the  Senate. 
The  latter  no  longer  retained  any  sign  of  its  ancient  power, 
save  the  j^'f'f'^iviinunj  cipprohatton  of  the  plebiscita  and  laws  df 
the  centuries ;  and  this  obligatory  approbation  appeared  to  he  a 
mere  formality.  But  the  Senate  made  arrangements  with  the 
consuls  for  drawing  up  the  list  of  consular  and  praetorian 
candidates  presented  to  the  centuries,  and  for  approving  before- 
hand the  projected  laws  to  be  carried  before  them.  On  a  future 
day,  when  the  tribunes  made  common  cause  with  the  nobles, 
the  Senate  pursued  the  same  course  in  respect  to  the  plebiscita, 
and  in  this  way  again  became  for  a  time  master  of  the  Re- 
pubhc.^ 

Let  us  note,  at  the  moment  when  the  reciprocal  rights  of 
the  assemblies  and  the  Senate  are  being  determined,  that  while 
the  Curia  discussed  a  subject  before  voting  upon  it,  the  Comitia 
voted  without  discussing  it.  For  popular  assemblies  the  Romans 
had  wisely  separated  discussion  and  decision,  —  certainly  a  very 
useful    precaution    against    the     sudden     and     violent     excitement 

1  The  law  of  Iloratius  and  Valerius  had  given  the  force  of  law  to  the  resolutions  of  the 

tribes,  bv  submitting  them  to  the  sanction  of  the  Senate,  palrum  auctoritas.     Publilius  freed 

them  from  the  sanction  post  ererilum,  hy  submitting  them,  like  the  laws  of  the  centuries,  to  the 

* prcliminari/  approbation  of  the  Senate.     As  an  electoral  power,  the  comitia  by  tribes  appointed 

the  aediles,  quaestors,  and  tribunes. 

^  .  .  .  Ut  lequm  quae  comitiit  centuriatis  ferrentur,  ante  initutn  suffragium  palres  auctora 
Jierent.     (Livy,  viii.  12.) 

*  This  new  development  will  be  explained  in  vol.  ii.  of  this  work. 


o92  ROME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

that  a  glowing  speech  might  produce  jnjt  before  tlie  ballot.' 
Yet  the  resolutions  of  the  centuries  and  tribes  were  not  taken 
till  the  citizens  had  been  enlightened  by  a  controversial  debate 
at  a  contio,  —  a  free  assembly  presided  over  by  a  magistrate, 
and  which  a  magistrate  of  superior  rank  might  forbid.^  It 
was  there  that  the  measures  to  be  proposed  to  the  comitia  were 
discussed.  In  our  [French]  assemblies  there  is  always  a  right  of 
replying  to  a  minister ;  in  the  contio  the  magistrate  spoke  last.^ 
This  means  that  with  us  more  liberty  is  allowed  for  an  attack 
on  the  Government ;  whereas  at  Rome  it  was  rather  sought  to 
defend  it.  This  single  fact  shows  the  difference  between  the  two 
states. 

The  consequences  which  followed  the  revolt  of  the  Campanian 
legions  prove  that  the  rebels  had  no  intention  of  committing  the 
lawless  violence  which  some  have  supposed  ;  but  that  they  were 
carrying  out  a  plan  formed  by  the  popular  leaders  to  complete 
the  revolution  to  which  Licinius  Stolo  had  given  an  irresistible 
impulse.  In  339,  indeed,  ends  the  political  strife,  which  the 
secession  of  the  people  to  the  Sacred  Mount  had  commenced  a 
century  and  a  half  earlier.  If  the  plebeians  are  still  excluded  from 
some  offices,  they  gain  access  to  them  gi-adually  —  without  com- 
motions, without  struggles  —  by  the  sole  force  of  the  new 
constitution  —  who;^  spirit  is  equality,  as  that  of  the  old  was 
privilege.  Thus  Publilius  Philo  obtained  the  praetorship  in  337, 
and  in  32(3  the  proconsulship,  —  which  office  was  consequently 
open  to  plebeians  from  its  foundation.  At  an  uncertain  date,  after 
366,  but  before  312,  the  Ovinian  plebiscitum  threw  the  Senate  open 
to  plebeians ;  *    and  in  the  year  300  the  Lex  Ogulnia  decreed  that 

1  C'lc,  pro  Flacco,  7  :  0  morem praeclarum  disciplinamqiie,  quam  a  majorihus  accephnus  .  .  . 
Nullum  ilH  .  .  .  vim  conlionis  esse  voluerunt,  etc. ;  and  he  compares  all  the  precautions  taken 
by  the  ancient  Romans  with  the  tumultuous  assemblies  of  the  Greeks,  where  men  voted  by 
show  of  hands  as  soon  as  the  orator  had  finished  speaking. 

-  Aulus  Gellius,  xiii.  15.  I  need  not  add  that  it  oftL'n  happened,  in  the  last  centuries 
of  the  liepublic,  that  the  deliberative  assemljly  immediately  ])receded  that  in  which  the 
votes  were  taken,  —  which  much  diminished  the  value  of  the  precautions  taken  in  olden 
times. 

8  Dion.,  xxxix.  .35 :  .  .  .  tols  Idioyrats  irpo  tu>v  tcis  ap)(as  €)(^6in-uiv  6  Xdyoy  eSi'Soro. 

*  This  law  transferred  from  the  consuls  to  the  censors  the  right  of  drawing  up  the  list  of 
Senators,  but  obliged  them  to  choose  the  new  members,  ex  omni  online  optimum  qiiemque,  from 
among  the  old  curule  magistrates,  quaestors,  plebeian  aediles,  and  tribunes.  Thus,  in  the  space 
of  a  lustrum,  there  were  50  tribunes  and  10  aediles,  so  that  the  plebeians  were  not  long  in  finding 


ACCESSIOi^    OF  THE    PLEIJEIAIS-S  TO  UUKULE   OFFICES.      o'Jo 

thenceforth  four  pontiffs  and  five  augurs  should  be  taken  from  the 
second  order.-"  Tliis  was  the  division  of  the  priesthood,  and  the 
abolition  of  the  patrician  veto  of  the  augurs.  Four  years  later 
the  son  of  a  freednian,  Flavius,  clerk  to  the  censor  Appius, 
by  the  publication  of  the  calendar^  and  the  formulae  connected 
with  lawsuits,  deprived  the  patricians  of  the  only  advantage  left 
them,  —  the  knowledge  of  civil  and  sacred  law. 

The  consuls  had  always  appointed  the  legionary  tribunes.  In 
the  year  oG2  the  people  took  upon  themselves  the  right  to  choose 
six  of  them ;  fifty  years  later  they  appropriated  a  larger  share 
of  the  appointments,  and  decided,  by  the  Atilian  plebiscitum,  that 
they  would  name  sixteen.  As  each  of  the  four  legions  raised 
annually  had  six  tribunes,  democratic  jealousy  had  thus  deprived 
the  generals  of  the  choice  of  two  thirds  of  them.  Fortunately, 
among  this  military  nation,  where  every  citizen  nuist  have 
served  in  at  least  ten  campaigns,  it  was  difficult  for  the 
popular  vote  to  appoint  to  any  command  men  incapable  of 
exercising  it. 

To  this  work  of  popular  levelling  belongs  the  Maenian  law,^ 
established  towards  the  end  of  the  Samnite  war,  which  suppressed 
the  right,  liitherto  left  to  the  Curiae,  of  refusing  the  imjierium  to 
magistrates  chosen  by  the  centuries.  Deprived  of  all  influence 
over  elections  and  the  making  of  laws,  this  ancient  assembly  of 
the  Roman  people  fell  into  disuse.  There  was  no  longer  patrician 
caste,  nor  comitia  curiata.  But  this  nation,  whose  life  was  a 
perpetual  revolution,  was  more  tenacious  than  any  other  of  the 
worship  of  the  past.  Like  the  citizens  who  proudly  displayed  the 
images  of  their  ancestors,  it  religiously  preserved  the  memory  and 
semblance  of  things  which  time  or  man'liad  destroyed.      Even  the 

thenjgelves  a  majority  in  the  Senate.  Cf.  Livy,  xxii.  49 :  .  .  .  senatores  aul  qui  eon  inagislralus 
yessissent  unde  in  senatmn  legi  deberent. 

*  The  salii,  the  fratres  Arvales,  the  fetiales,  anj  the  rex  sacrorum,  wlio  played  no 
poUtical  role,  were  always  taken  from  the  patricians. 

-  The  calendar  showed  the  days  and  hours  in  which  it  was  legal  to  plead.  As  these  days 
varied  each  year,  it  was  necessary,  before  the  time  of  Flavius,  to  consult  the  pontiff,  or  those 
patricians  who  were  initiated  into  these  mysteries  of  these  calculations  .  .  .  a  paucix princijimii 
quolidie.  petcbat.  (Pliny,  xx.xiii.  6.)  The  Tables  of  Flavius,  in  which  were  revealed  the  lei/is 
actiones,  the  actus  legilimi,  the  dies  fasti,  nefasti,  and  intercm,  formed  the  jus  Flavianum.  The 
patricians  having  devised  new  formulae,  Sextus  Aelius  Catus  again  disclosed  them  in  202. 
To  his  work  the  name  of  /us  Aelianum  was  given. 

3  Cic,  Brut.  14. 


394  ROME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

Empire  did  not  completely  sweep  them  away.  Three  centuries 
after  Augustus  there  was  a  Senate,  which  at  times  resumed  its 
political  character  in  earnest,  and  Justinian  still  appointed  consuls. 
Thus  the  Curiae  still  continued,  preserved,  like  the  statues  of 
the  kings,  by  the  respect  in  which  men  and  things  of  ancient 
times  were  held  by  all,  but  reduced  to  insignificant  civil  and 
religious  prerogatives,  and  represented  by  thirty  lictors,  under  the 
presidency  of  the  high  pontiff. 

By  this  downfall  of  the  Curiae,  all  the  aristocratic  strengtli 
of  the  government  was  concentrated  in  the  Senate,  into  which  a 
greater  number  of  plebeians  entered  daily  through  the  medium  of 
office. 

From  302  to  286  came  renewed  confirmation  of  the  funda- 
mental laws,  which  were  the  Magpa  Charta,  as  it  were,  of  plebeian 
liberties. 

In  302  there  was  a  confirmation  of  the  Valerian  law,  which, 
by  the  right  of  appeal,  gave  the  accused  his  peers  as  judges. 

In  299  there  was  a  confirmation  of  the  Licinian  law,  for  the 
division  of  the  consulship,  and  consequently  of  every  office. 

In  286  the  laws  of  the  plebeian  dictator,  Hortensius,  which 
ratified  all  former  victories,  confirmed  tlie  PubliUan  law  relative  to 
the  obligatory  character  of  plebiscita,  and  freed  them  from  the 
preliminary  authorization  of  the  Senate.^ 

Grave  circumstances  had  led  to  tliis  last  dictatorship :  the 
people,  having  again  risen  in  revolt  on  the  subject  of  debts,^  had 
withdrawn  to  the  Janiculum.  They  only  demanded  the  re-enforce- 
ment of  the  laws  against  creditors ;  but  their  chiefs  desired  more. 
Interested  as  they  always  are  in  causing  political  revolutions  ly 
which  they  profit,  they  turned  the  attention  of  the  multitude  from 
their  misery  to  their  olfended  dignity.  The  Hortensian  laws  had 
thus  quite  a  different  bearing  from  what  the  first  leaders  of  the 
crowd  had  intended.  Debts  were  abolished  or  diminished,  it  is 
true,  but  the  plebeian  rights  were  also  confirmed  agam ;  and  in 
order  to  efface  the  last  distinction  which  still  separated  the  two 
orders,  the  nundinae  were  declared  not  to  be  holy  days.  It  Avas 
on  the  nundinae,  or  market  days,  that  the  tribes  assembled,  because 

1  .  .  .  Itaque  CO  mndo  Icylbus  plebiscita  exaerjuata  sunt.      (Gaius,  Insl.  i.  3.) 
"  See  pages  403-405. 


ACCESSlOiS!  OF  THE  TLEBEIA^S^S  TO  CURULE   OFFICES.      395 

on  those  days  the  country  people  came  to  Rome.  The  patricians, 
unwilling  in  their  pride  to  have  anything  in  common  with  the 
plebeians,  and  in  order  that  the  latter  miglit  not  be  able  to  count 
their  small  number  in  the  Curiae,  or  await  the  decisions  of  the 
Senate,  or  in  a  menacing  crowd  attend  the  judgments  of  their 
tribunals,  had  consecrated  the  nundinac  to  Jupiter,  and  had  for- 
bidden themselves  during  them  all  deliberation  and  all  business.' 

Another  arrangement  is,  however,  attributed  to  the  dictator 
Hortensius,  which  would  show  a  sincere  desire  to  prevent  excesses 
among  the  democracy  by  strengthening  the  aristocratic  element  in 
the  constitution :  senatus-consulta  were  to  be  raised  to  the  rank 
of  general  laws,  and,  lilve  the  plebiscita,  to  be  binding  on  all 
orders.^  The  thing  is  not  certam ;  but  henceforth  the  legislative 
power  of  the  Senate  is  seen  to  extend  more  and  more. 

There  is  a  creation  of  this  period  which  has  no  political 
character,  but  wMch  ought  to  be  23laced  at  its  proper  date.  About 
the  year  292  b.  c.  there  was  instituted  a  magistracy  of  secondary  rank, 
the  triumviri  cajntales,^  who  replaced  the  quaestores  parricidii.  Ap- 
pointed in  an  asseml^ly  of  the  people  presided  over  by  the  praetor, 
they  were  charged  with  the  investigation  of  crimes,  the  receiving 
of  evidence  against  the  guilty,  and,  after  the  trial,  the  supervision 
of  the  carrying  out  of  the  sentence.  They  assisted  the  aediles  in 
the  maintenance  of  public  order,  and  in  obtaining  the  payment  of 
the  fines  which  the  latter  had  inflicted,  and  they  could  have  slaves 
and  common  people  beaten  for  any  offence.  Plautus  in  his  time 
knew  of  them :  "  If  the  triumvirs  met  me  at  this  hour  of  tlie  night," 
he  makes  Sosia  say,*  "  they  would  clap  me  into  prison,  and  to-morrow 
I  should  l^e  dragged  out  of  their  cage,  and  they  would  give  me 
the  stirrup-leathers  without  listening  to  my  reasons.  Eight  strong 
fellows  would  lieat  the  anvil  on  my  l^ack."  We  know  that  they 
had  Naevius  put  into  fetters  to  punish  the  l)oldness  of  his  verses.** 

By  the  aggregate  of  laws  promulgated  since  the  year  367  b.  c, 

^  Xundlnaa  Jnei  xacrns  cssi;.     (Marr.,  Sat.  {.  IG.) 

"  Theopliilus,  one  of  the  lawyers  of  Justinian,  in  Bk.  i.  tit.  2,  §  5,  of  his  very  useful  Greek 
paraphrase  of  the  Institutes,  speaks  of  Hortensius  as  a  true  friend  of  his  country,  who  put 
an  end  to  the  century-long  quarrels  of  the  two  orders. 

*  Livy,  Epll.  xi.,  and  Dig.  I.  ii.  2  and  30:  Trinniriri  capitales  qui  careens  cuslodiam 
hahcrent  ul.  rum  anhnadverii  oporteret,  intcrventu  curum  Jicret. 

*  Amphhr.  I.  i.  3-C. 

'  Aulus  Gellius,  iii.  3.     lie  lauqiooned  the  ^Nletelli,  who  were  powerful  jiatrii-ians. 


39G  EOME    UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

not  only  had  political  eqiiality  been  won,  but  the  advantage  was 
now  on  tlie  side  of  the  plebeians.  Eligible  for  all  magistracies, 
with  the  right  of  occupying  at  once  both  the  posts  of  consul  and 
censor,  they  kept  exclusively  plebeian  the  offices  of  tribune  and 
plebeian  aedile.  The  triljunes  could,  by  their  veto,  arrest  the 
decrees  of  the  Senate,  the  acts  of  the  consuls,  and  legislative 
proposals ;  by  their  right  of  accusation  they  placed  unpopular  magis- 
trates under  the  threat  of  an  inevitable  condemnation.  The 
assemblies  of  Curiae  were  annulled,  and  the  comitia  of  tribes  bound 
all  the  orders  by  their  plebiscita.  Yet  even  the  aristocracy  itself, 
and,  above  all,  the  fortune  of  Rome,  were  to  gain  by  this  equality 
so  unwillingly  yielded.  The  aristocracy  was  indeed  thrown  open 
to  all;  but  it  was  m  order  to  attract  and  to  absorb  mto  its  bosom, 
to  the  profit  of  its  power,  all  talents  —  all  aml^itions.  Separated 
from  the  people,  it  would  soon  have  fallen  into  weakness ;  heuceforth 
the  best  plebeian  blood  rose  to  the  summit;  like  a  branch  grafted 
on  a  vigorous  trunk,  it  was  nourished  by  a  fertilizing  sap,  and  the 
tree,  whose  roots  reached  deep  into  the  soil,  was  strong  enough  to 
spread  its  branches  afar. 

An  obscure  fact  shows  that,  if  the  law  had  decreed  equality 
by  allowing  a  man  of  talent  and  courage  to  aspire  to  anything, 
which  is  one  great  advantage  to  a  state,  society  preserved  its  family 
traditions,  which  are  another.  In  the  year  295  the  Senate,  in 
order  to  avert  the  effect  of  evil  omens,  had  prescribed  two  days 
of  public  prayers.  On  this  occasion  a  dispute  arose  among 
the  Roman  ladies  in  the  little  temple  of  patrician  Chastity.  A 
patrician  woman,  named  Virginia,  had  married  a  plcljeian,  the 
consul  L.  Vohimnius.  In  order  to  punish  her  for  this  mesalliance, 
the  matrons  forbade  her  to  join  in  their  sacred  ceremonies.  She, 
angry  at  this  affront,  l^uilt  a  temple  to  plebeian  Chastity,  estab- 
lished the  same  rites,  and  assembled  all  the  matrons  of  her 
order  there,  saying  to  them :  "  Let  there  be  henceforth  no  less 
emulation  among  the  women  in  chastity,  than  there  is  among  the 
men  in  courage ;  and  let  this  altar  be  honored  more  devoutly 
than  the  other."  "The  right  to  sacrifice  here,"  adds  Livy,  "was 
only  granted  to  Avomen  of  acknowledged  chastity,  and  who  had 
been  only  once  married."  ^ 

1  Livy,  X.  23. 


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ACCESSION   OF    PLEBEIANS   TO   CURULE    OFFICES.  397 

The  story  is  edifying,  and  the  virtue  of  the  matrons  is  con- 
spicuous-, but  there  are  also  jealous  rivalries  disclosed,  which  the 
women  at  least  never  forgot,  and  that  respect  for  blood  and  race 
which  always  prevented  Roman  society  from  falling  a  prey  to 
demagogues.  Moreover,  the  leaders  of  the  plebs,  having  no  longer 
anything  to  appropriate  or  destroy,  now  became  conservatives,  in 
accordance  with  the  logic  of  the  passions  and  of  history. 

From  the  laws  concerning  the  state,  let  us  Tpass  to  those  which 
relate  to  private  fortunes. 

1  The  coin  below  rejiresents  an  altar,  on  which  is  the  statue  of  Chastity  standing  on  a 
curule  chair.  Reverse  of  a  denarius  of  Plotina,  wife  of  Trajan.  The  legend  bears  these 
words  :  "  Caesar  Augustus  Germanicus  Dacicus,  father  of  his  country,  for  the  sixth  time  cou- 
gul;"    which  fixes  the  coining  of  the  piece  between  112  and  117  a.  D. 


ALTAR    OF    CHASTITY.! 


CHAPTER  Xni. 

THE  AGEAEIAN  LAW  AND  THE  ABOLITION  OF  DEBT. 

I.    Agrarian  Law  of  Licinius  Stolo. 

CIVIL  equality  gives,  even  to  the  jDoorest,  new  and  ntWe  sen- 
timents ;  ^  but  wealth  is  not  one  of  the  good  things  which 
it  assures.  Those  whom  the  law  declared  equal  in  the  Forum, 
remained  classed  in  ordinary  life  according  to  their  fortune  ;  the 
rich  above,  near  to  the  honors,  the  poor  below,  in  misery. 
Accordingly  the  tribunes  had  always  had  in  view  a  double  object : 
to  attain,  by  a  share  in  offices,  political  equality,  and  by  grants  of 
land  to  mitigate  the  distresses  of  the  poor. 

As  the  workman  now  demands  work  and  remunerative  wages, 
so  the  poor  man  formerly  demanded  land.  The  agrarian  laws  which 
so  long  troubled  the  Roman  Republic  are  thus  the  ancient  form 
of  the  social  questions  which  agitate  modern  society.^  Since  the 
problem  is  the  same,  —  to  diminish  miseiy,  and  consequently  to 
diminish  the  evil  passions  which  misery  too  often  sows  in  the 
minds  of  the  poor  against  the  rich,  —  we  are  led  by  more  than 
mere  curiosity  to  study  closely  this  history  of  the  old  Roman 
proletariat. 

1  "  Everywhere  where  civil  inequality  exists,  whatever  greatness  it  may  develop  among  a 
few  by  the  aid  of  privilege,  it  entails  a  corruption  peculiar  to  itself,  which  disfigures  the  most 
admirable  societies,  and  spoils  the  best  and  most  generous  natures."  —  De  Remusat,  Essais  de 
Philosophie.  [The  distinction  of  freemen  and  slaves  introduced  this  inequality  into  all  ancient 
states,  however  completely  the  freemen  may  have  equalized  the  privileges  among  themselves. 
Thus  the  purest  ancient  democracy  was  really  an  aristocracy  ruling  a  population  greater  than 
itself,  which  had  no  civil  rights.  —  Ed.'] 

^  [This  form,  however,  still  exists  in  Ireland,  and  will  ])resently  reappear  in  Southern 
Italy,  where  great  estates  have  monopolized  the  means  of  living  in  a  country  without  manu- 
factures, or  else  where  manufactures  have  been  suppressed.  —  Ed.] 


THE   AGRARIAN   LAW   AND   THE   ABOLITION  OF    DEI'.T.     399 

In  a  country  overspread  with  small  republics,  as  Italy  was, 
the  strength  of  the  state  was  augmented  by  increasing  the  number 
of  citizens.  This  principle,  which  was  recognized  and  put  into 
pi-actice  by  the  kings,  and  after  them  by  the  Senate,  made  the 
fortune  of  Rome.  But  for  the  sake  of  safety  the  state  dared 
not  arm  those  who  might  possibly  be  tempted  to  employ  arms 
against  herself.  Accordingly,  the  Roman  law  had  provided  that 
tlu'  proletariat  should  never  be  called  to  the  standards.  Shut 
out  of  the  Forum  and  the  army,  these  proletaries  must  become 
dangerous  as  they  increased ;  and  this  was  continually  the  case. 
The  stranger  deprived  of  his  land,  and  who  had  come  to  Rome 
to  seek  the  means  of  subsistence,  the  craftsman,  the  ruined 
farmer,  the  insolvent  debtor,  the  citizen  degraded  by  the  censors, 
the  freedman  whose  fortune  could  not  make  men  forget  his  birth, 
—  all  who  were  miserable  and  hostile  to  a  government  to  which 
they  attributed  their  miseries  or  their  civic  degradation,  fell  into 
this  abyss,  which,  gaping  wider  day  by  day,  threatened  to  engulf 
the  city.-'  In  this  there  lay,  as  was  proved  in  the  last  days  of 
the  Republic,  a  great  danger  to  liberty :  it  w\as  true  foresight, 
and  the  act  of  a  good  citizen,  to  strive  to  diminish  this  danger 
by  diminishing  the  number  of  the  proletariat,  and  by  providing 
the  state  and  the  legions  with  useful  citizens.  From  this  patriotic 
idea,  with  which  there  were  naturally  mingled  some  selfish  motives, 
among  the  leaders  of  the  people,  sprang  almost  all  the  agrarian  laws. 

From  the  time  of  Cassius  to  the  decemvirs,  that  is  to  say, 
so  long  as  the  misfortunes  of  the  times  left  only  the  lands 
bordering  on  the  wall  of  Servius  to  be  distributed,  the  patricians 
energetically  repelled  all  agrarian  laws.  When  the  frontier  receded, 
they  consented  to  give  up  to  the  poor  a  few  acres  of  land  round 
the  conquered  towns,  in  order  to  free  Rome  from  a  certain 
number  of  poor,  and  to  favor  the  increase  of  the  population 
available    for   bearing   arms,^   but   more  especially  with  the    object 

'  It  is  necessary  to  distinguish  between  the  proletarius,  or  capite  census,  who  had  not  the 
census  necessary  to  enter  a  class,  and  the  aerarius,  whose  fortune  was  sometimes  consider- 
able (cf.  §  iii.  p.  406),  but  who,  on  account  of  his  origin,  was  deprived  of  certain  riglits. 
Practically,  the  proletariat  suffered  under  the  same  civil  disabilities,  and  might  conse(]ucntly 
be  disposed  to  make  common  cause  with  the  aerarii.  But  it  was  only  for  the  proletaries  that 
the  tribunes  spoke. 

^  After  the  taking  of  Veii  the  gratuity  was  more  hberal :  seplena  jugcra  .  .  .  ut  vellent 
in  earn  span  liberos  tottere.  (Livy,  v.  30.) 


400  ROME   UNDER  THE  PATRICIAlf  CONSULS. 

of  occupying  in  the  interests  of  their  empire  strong  military- 
positions.  But  this  exile  amid  conquered  races  and  the  dangers 
which  the  colonist  ran  of  being  driven  out  or  massacred  by  the 
ancient  inhabitants,^  rendered  these  gratuities  far  from  popular. 
"  They  preferred,"  says  Livy,  "  asking  for  lands  at  Rome,  to  pos- 
sessing them  at  Antiimi."  Deprived  of  a  portion  of  his  rights  as 
citizen,  the  colonist  would  have  left  tlie  city  with  regret  even 
though  he  might  find  on  the  two  or  four  jugera^  assigned  to  him 
so  far  away,  ease  and  safety. 

Accordingly,  although  colonies  multiplied  with  fresh  conquests, 
the  tribunes  well  understood  that  something  more  was  needed  to 
uproot  the  evil  of  pauperism,  and  Licinius  Stolo  proposed  to  dis- 
tribute among  the  poor  a  portion  of  the  state  land  which  had  been 
usurped  by  the   nobles. 

His  proposed  law  appears  to  have  been  thus  conceived :  — 

No  citizen  shall  possess  more  than  500  jmjera  (330  acres)  of 
state  land  ;  ^ 

None  shall  keep  on  the  public  pastures  more  than  100  head 
of  neat  and  500  head  of  small  cattle  ; 

Of  the  lands  restored  to  the  state,  there  shall  be  taken  suffi- 
cient to  distribute  to  every  poor  citizen  seven  jugera  (about  four 
and  a  half  acres) ; 

Those  who  remain  in  possession  of  public  land  shall  pay  to 
the  public  treasury  a  tithe  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  a  fifth  of  the 
produce  of  the  olives  and  vines,  and  the  rent  due  for  each 
head  of  cattle.  At  each  lustrum  these  taxes  shall  be  farmed  out 
to  the  highest  bidder  by  the  censors,  who  shall  apply  the  proceeds 
to  the  pay  of  the  troops. 

Each  proprietor  shall  be  obliged  to  employ  on  his  land  a 
certain  numljer  of  free  laborers,  in  proportion  to  the  extent  of 
the  estate. 

It  has  been  shown  (p.  289)  that  the  agrarian  laws  among 
the   Romans,    since    they   only    applied    to    public    lands,*    were   as 

•  As  at  Sora  (Livy,  ix.  23)  ;  at  Fidenae  (iv.  17);  at  Antium  (iii.  4)  ;  and  at  Velitrae  (viii.  3). 

^  As  at  Labicum  2  (  1^  acre)  ;  at  Anxur,  3^  (2^  acres).  (Livy,  viii.  21.)  'Ih^  jugerum 
=  28,800  square  feet. 

^  We  give  this  reconstruction  of  the  Licinian  law  according  to  Isiebulir,  but  believe  he 
has  introduced  into  it  too  many  traces  of  tlie  law  of  the  Gracchi. 

■*  All  the  agrarian  laws  denote  by  the  word  posses.sio  the  portion  of   the   ager  publicus 


THE   AGEARIAN   LAW   AND   THE   ABOLITION   OF   DEBT.     401 

just  as  they  were  necessary ;  but  tlioir  execution  almost  always 
injured  rights  consecrated  by  time.  How  was  a  public  estate  to 
be  recognized  when  the  landmarks  had  been  displaced,  and  the 
tithe  was  no  longer  paid  ?  How  was  a  state  property  to  be 
discovered  amid  lands  that  luul  bi'cii  handed  down  as  private 
property  for  more  than  a  centur}-,  or  sold.  l)equeathed,  given  as 
dower,  left  by  Avill,  twenty  times  over  ?  The  rich  knew  well 
what  insuperable  difficulties  would  be  fomid  in  applying  the 
Licmian  law,  when  after  ten  years  they  at  last  accepted  it.  They 
loiew,  too,  how  to  evade  it,  by  emancipating  their  sons  before 
they  came  of  age,  so  as  to  assign  them  the  500  jugera  allowed, 
or  by  retaining  under  an  assumed  name  what  they  should  have 
returned  to  the  state.  The  example  of  Licinius,  who  was  himself 
condemned  in  357  b.  c.  to  pay  a  fine  of  ten  thousand  ases  for 
having  in  his  possession  1,000  jugera  (660  acres)  of  public  land, 
500  of  which  he  held  in  the  name  of  his  emancipated  son,  proves 
how  numerous  the  evasions  were,  since  the  author  of  tlie  law,  a 
man  of  consular  rank,  could  elude  it  without  feeling  any  shame. 
The  domain  continued,  then,  to  be  encroached  upon  by  the  nobles, 
who,  by  appropriating  Italy  to  themselves,  laid  the  foundations 
of  those  colossal  fortunes,  which  can  only  be  understood  now  by 
comparison  with  the  English  aristocracy.  Even  in  291  B.  c.  two 
thousand  workmen  were  needed  by  one  consul  to  clear  his  woods. 
The  provision  of  the  Licinian  law  relative  to  tithes  appears 
to  have  been  better  obseiwed,  since  from  this  time  forth  we  hear  no 
more  of  those  complaints  against  the  taxes  which  were  formerly  so 
rife ;  and  henceforth  Rome  is  able  to  bear  the  expenses  of  the  longest 
wars.  But  it  was  not  so  with  that  which  limited  the  quantity 
of  cattle  to  be  sent  to  the  public  pastvires.  Tliese  pastures  grew 
daily  larger,  for  from  the  end  of  the  fifth  century  of  Rome  there 
comes    a  fatal  change  iii  agriculture,  —  namely,  the  substitution    of 


occupied  by  any  individual,  and  the  Digest  establishes  the  difference  between  possessio  and 
proprietas.  Quicquid  appreliendimus  cujus  proprietas  ad  nos  non  pertinet,  aul  nee  potest 
pertinere,  hoc  possessionem  appdlanius.  (Digest,  L.  Ifi,  11. 5.)  At  Rome  (Livy,  iv.  4S),  as 
almost  all  lands  were  those  which  had  been  conquered,  tlie  heritages  were  only  small  fields. 
Accordingly,  those  who  did  not  wish  to  encroach  on  the  public  domain  hav«  only  4  to  1  jugera, 
like  Cincinnatus,  Fabricius,  Coruncanius,  Aemilius  Papus,  JI.  Curius,  Regulus,  Fabius  Cuncta- 
tor,  etc.  (Cf.  Val.  JIax.,  iv.  4  and  8.)  It  was  certainly  only  at  the  expense  of  the  public  land 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  possessiones  of  500  jugera  and  more  could  have  been  formed. 

VOL.    I.  20 


402     ■  ROME    UNDER   THE    PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

grazing  for  arable  land.'  How,  indeed,  was  it  possible  to  sow, 
plant,  or  build  far  from  Rome,  and  beyond  the  protection  of  the 
legions  or  fortresses  during  that  Samnite  war  which  seemed 
as  thou2;h  it  would  never  end  ?  Where  were  hands  to  be  found 
to  bring  all  the  conquered  land  under  cultivation  ?  Slaves  were 
scarce,  and  military  service  retained  the  free  lalwrers  under 
the  standards.  There  was  nothing  to  be  done,  then,  but  leave 
these  lands  for  pasture,  since  it  was  impossible  to  prepare  them 
for  seed,  or  to  wait  a  year  for  the  harvest.  If  the  enemy 
appeared,  the  flocks  dispersed  among  the  mountains,  and  instead  of 
crops  and  farms,  nothing  was  left  to  burn  or  pillage  but  the  poor 
hovels  of  the  shepherds.  To  have  grazing  lands,  or  to  have  flocks 
feeding  on  the  public  ground,  was  a  clear  and  sure  source  of 
revenue,  which  dreaded  neither  the  enemy  nor  bad  seasons,  and 
which  all  wished  to  enjoy.  Accordingly,  the  Licinian  law  was 
soon  forgotten,^  notwithstanding  the  fines  inflicted  by  the  aediles. 
But  large  flocks  drive  out  small  ones.  Moreover,  the  poor  man's 
cow  could  not  go  30  or  40  miles  from  Rome  every  day  to 
pasture ;  even  without  any  violence,  the  state  grazing  lands  were 
only  of  use  to  those  who  could  afford  to  pay  shepherds,  and  build 
on  the  heights  castles  or  strong  houses  which  served  as  a  refuge 
in  case  of  hostile  invasion.^ 

The  new  aristocracy,  however,  while  it  appropriated  the  best 
lands  for  itself,  did  not  forget  that  the  surest  means  of  preventing 
trouble  aljout  its  usurpations  was  to  do  something  for  the  welfare 
of  the  people.  During  the  Samnite  war  numerous  colonies  were 
founded ;  into  the  three  towns  of  Sora,  Alba,  and  Carseoli  alone 
there  were  sent  as  many  as  fourteen  thousand  plebeian  families ;  * 
and  Curius  Dentatus  twice,  in  his  first  consulship    and    at  the  end 

1  Cato  {lie  Re  rust,  i.),  j)lacing  the  lands  in  order  of  their  vahie,  puts  the  corn-bearing 
lands  only  in  the  sixth  rank ;    Varro  (iii.  3)  puts  meadows  in  the  first. 

^  In  the  year  298  there  was  pronounced  a  condemnation  against  those  who  plus  quam 
quod  lege  finitum  erat  agri  possidcreiit.  (Livy,  x.  13;  cf.  x.  23,  47.)  New  fine.s  were  imposed, 
in  2nfi  and  293,  on  pecuarii.  These  fines  were  so  numerous  and  so  heavy,  that  they  served 
to  build  temples,  celebrate  games,  and  make  ])recious  offerings  :  paterae  of  gold  to  Jupiter, 
brazen  gates  for  the  Cajutol,  the  wolf  of  Romulus,  the  temple  of  Concord  of  Flavius,  the. 
paving  of  the  Appian  Way,  etc.  Those  quotations  would  be  far  more  numerous,  had  wo 
not  lost  the  second  decade  of  Livy. 

'  Livy,  V.  44.  [The  same  change  has  taken  place,  from  economical  causes,  in  Scotland, 
and  is  taking  place  in  Ireland.  —  Ed.'] 

*  The  older  colonies  were  far  smaller,  usually  300  families.     (Dionys.,  ii.  35,  52.) 


THE  AGRARIAN   LAW  AND  THE  ABOLITION   OF  DEBT.     403 

of   the  war   against   Pyrrhus,   distributed    five    acres    of    land    per 
head    among    the    people.'      The    laws   of    the    dictator    llortensius 
perhaps  contained  a  similar  provision. 
Other  laws  relieved  debtors. 


II.   Laws  on  Debt. 

The  rate  of  interest,  which  was  at  first  arbitrary,  had  been 
fixed  by  the  decemvirs  at  the  twelfth  of  the  capital  (8|  per  cent 
per  annum).  Licinius  had  deducted  from  the  capital  the  interest 
already  paid,  and  allowed  three  years  for  the  repayment  of  the  rest. 
But,  mindful  only  of  the  present  ill,  he  had  not  lowered  the  legal 
rate  of  interest  for  the  future.  In  356  B.  c.  the  ravages  of  the 
Gauls  and  the  dread  which  they  left  behind  having  rendered  money 
scarce  and  loans  burdensome  to  the  borrower,  two  tribunes  again 
put  into  force  the  provisions  of  the  Twelve  Tables.  The  evil  con- 
tinued. The  price  of  land  fell  under  the  continual  threat  of 
invasions,  and  the  debtor  who  owned  a  field  could  only  sell  it  at 
an  enormous  sacrifice. 

The  Senate  grew  frightened  at  the  increasing  number  of  slaves 
for  debt.  In  the  year  352,  in  the  consulship  of  Valerius  and 
Marcus  Rutilius,  five  commissioners  established  in  the  name  of 
the  government  a  bank,  which  lent  money  at  very  low  interest. 
At  the  same  time  they  fixed  the  prices  at  which  lands  and  flocks 
might  be  given  in  repayment  of  the  loans.  This  measure  caused 
the  paying  off  of  many  debts.  Five  years  later  the  rate  of 
interest  was  reduced  to  one  twenty-fourth  of  the  capital  (4^  per 
cent).  Finally,  the  revolt  of  the  garrison  of  Capua  (342)  led  to 
an  abolition  of  debts,  —  which  was  a  general  bankruptcy,  —  and  the 
suppression  of  loans  on  interest,^  —  a  measure  more  humane  than 
efficacious,  since  the  law  cannot  control  in  transactions  for  the 
most  part  beyond  its  cognizance. 

There    remained    the    cruel    provisions    of    the    Twelve    Tables 

1  There  were  also  great  distributions  at  the  end  of  the  First  Punic  War. 

'  Tac., -Inn.  vi.  16:  unciario  foenore,  uncia,  scmitncia,  etc.,  signify  not  only  an  ounce,  etc., 
but  also  -jV,  ^j,  etc.,  of  any  sum.  Thus  haeres  ex  uncia  was  heir  to  ^  of  tlie  whole.  The 
unciarium  foenu.1  brought  in  ^  of  the  capital.     At  Athens,  the  usual  interest  was  12  per  cent. 


404      .  EOME   UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

against  insolvent  debtors.  In  326  b.  c.  the  violence  of  Papirius 
towards  the  young  Pviblilius  excited  such  indignation,  that  in 
order  to  appease  it  the  Senate  were  obliged  to  revive  the  old  law, 
attributed  to  Servius,  that  the  goods,  and  not  tlie  body,  of  the 
debtor  should  answer  for  his  debt.  This  was  a  real  benefit. 
"  From  that  day,"  says  Livy,  "  there  commenced  for  the  people  a 
new  liberty."  -^ 

But  in  purely  agricultural  states,  whatever  precaution  the  law 
may  take,  small  properties  are  always  devoured  by  usury.  Taxes 
take  the  little  money  the  husbandman  possesses  ;  and  should  there 
come  a  bad  season,  should  a  harvest  be  lost,  he  must  necessarily, 
since  he  has  no  reserve  fund,  have  recourse  to  the  usurer.^  At 
the  close  of  the  Samnite  war,  after  sixty  campaigns,  there  were 
very  many  poor  at  Rome,  —  prisoners  whose  all  had  been  swallowed 
up  by  the  payment  of  their  ransoms ;  the  sick,  the  wounded,  who 
were  unfit  for  work ;  and  lastly,  those  who  had  squandered  their 
share  of  the  plunder  while  their  fields  remained  imtilled. 

Misery  reached  even  some  of  the  great  families.  One  Ven- 
turius,  the  son  of  a  man  of  consular  rank,  not  having  been  able  to 
pay  for  his  father's  funeral  ceremonies,  was  kept  in  the  ergastulvm 
by  C.  Plautius,  his  creditor.  One  day  he  managed  to  escape  from 
prison,  and  ran  to  the  Porum,  all  covered  with  blood,  like  the 
centurion  in  the  year  493,  where  he  implored  the  jDrotection  of 
the  tribunes. 

This  period  is  little  known  to  us ;  it  seems,  however,  that 
the  tribunes  proposed  an  abolition  of  debts,^  that  the  rich  resisted, 
and  that  there  were  long  disturbances ;  but  the  people  marched 
out  of  Rome  and  encamped  on  the  Janiculum  (286).  For  the  last 
time  this  means  succeeded;  for  the  frontier  was  still  so  near  the 
town  that  the  nobles  dared  not  risk  a  civil  war,  of  which  the  enemy 
would  not  have  failed  to  take  advantage.  At  this  moment,  too, 
Etruria  began  to  bestir  itself :  a  dictator  was  appointed,  a  plebeian 

^  .  .  .  Quod  necli  flenierunt.  (Livy,  Tiii.  28.)  Yet  the  insoh-ent  debtor,  if  he  remained 
free,  was  none  the  less  iiifiunis,  expelled  from  his  tribe,  and  deprived  of  aU  political  rights. 
(Cf.  Cic,  pro  Quinctio,  15.) 

^  This  is  still  the  state  of  the  farmers  of  Rome,  who  have  been  often  known  to  sell  the 
harvest  before  seed-time.  The  population  became  too  numerous  for  large  farms,  and  when 
reduced  to  small  plots,  were  subject  to  all  the  distresses  of  the  small  farmers  round  Ancient 
Rome. 

'  Val.  Max.,  VI.  i.  9 ;  Zonaras,  viii.  2 ;  Livy,  Epil.  xi. :  post  tonr/as  cl  f/raves  seditiones. 


THE   AGRARIAN   LAW   AND   THE   ABOLITION   OF  DEBT.     405 

named  Hortensius.  We  know  his  political  laws ;  ■*  the  following 
provisions  are  also  attributed  to  him  :  — 

Abolition  or  diminution  of  debts  ; 

Distribution  of  seven  acres  to  each  citizen ; 

A  renewed  confirmation  of  the  Lex  Papiria  Poetelia,  which  had 
(in  326)  forbidden  slavery  for  debt. 

Debtors  were  thus  protected  agamst  their  creditors,  since  the 
usurer,  who  was  counted  the  most  dangerous  of  robbers,  was 
condemned,  says  Cato,  to  pay  a  fine  of  fourfold,  whereas  the 
robber  onlj-  paid  double  of  what  he  took.  Thus  usury  must  die 
out,  —  at  least  the  law  has  said  it  ;  but  the  law  declares  that  all 
citizens  of  Rome  are  equal,  which  is  a  legal  fiction.  The  poor  citi- 
zens are  no  more  guaranteed  against  usury  than  they  are  all 
made  consuls  and  senators.  The  usurer,  driven  from  the  pulslic 
place,  and  punished  by  the  laws,  hides  himself,  and  becomes  more 
exacting  than  ever ;  ^  for  he  must  now  be  paid,  be3'ond  the  price  of 
his  money,  the  risks  that  he  runs,  and  the  dishonor  which  falls 
on  him. 

But  these  are  evils  which  human  wisdom  cannot  cure.  In- 
equality is  too  marked  in  nature  for  society  to  avoid  its  impress. 
At  Sparta,  where  equality  was  pin-sued  with  savage  energy,  even 
at  the  expense  of  morality  and  liberty,  the  most  glaring  inequality 
resulted  from  the  laws  of  Lycurgus.^  Let  us  not,  therefore, 
accuse  these  upstart  nobles  of  having  forgotten,  in  their  curule 
chairs,  the  people  from  whom  the}'  sjsrang.  By  giving  land  to 
the  poor,  by  proscribing  usury  and  especially  the  detention  of  the 
person,  they  had  done  all  that  the  law  and  political  wisdom  could 
do  to  ameliorate  the  lot  of  the  plebeians.  The  latter  bore  it  in 
mind  for  more  than  a  century,  and  that  century  was  the  golden 
age  of  the  Republic. 

>  See  p  3i»4. 

'^  Even  the  law  fell  into  disuse.  The  ancient  usages  reappeared  :  releri  jam  more  Jhenus 
receptum  erat.  (Appian,  de  Bcllo  cic.  i.  54  ;  cf.  Tac,  Ann.  vi.  16,  17.)  Moreover  the  Latins, 
the  allies,  served  as  nominal  debtors.  (Livy,  xxxv.  7.)  Brutus  lent  at  48  per  cent  with 
compound  interest.  (Cic.,  ad  Alt.  v.  21.)  The  praetor  Sempronius,  being  desirous  of  jmtting 
the  laws  into  force  again,  was  slain  by  his  creditors.  (App.  ibid.)  The  abolition  of  debts  and 
of  loans  on  interest  was  a  revolutionary  measure  which  could  not  last.  It  failed  at  Rome  ;  it 
will  fail  everywhere,  because  it  is  against  the  nature  of  things. 

'  [That  Lycurgus  established  equality  of  property  is  more  than  doubtful.  —  £(/.] 


406  ROME    UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 


in.   The  Aerarii  ;  Censorship  of  Appius  (312). 

The  two  orders,  however,  had  not  yet  terminated  their  an- 
cient quarrel,  when  there  appeared  on  tlie  scene  those  who  were 
to  overthrow  the  patriciate,  tlie  plebeian  nobility,  and  liberty. 
Beneath  the  plebeians  who  had  become  Quirites,  outside  the  pale 
of  the  centuries  and  tribes,  lived  the  freedmen,  who  were  already 
multiplying,  the  craftsmen,  the  merchants,  the  inhabitants  of  muni- 
cipalities suie  siiffragio,  who  had  settled  at  Rome,  and  lastly  the 
aerarii,^  all  of  them  citizens,  but  living  under  political  disabilities, 
excluded  from  the  legions,  disqualified  for  holding  office,  and  never 
allowed  to  vote.  Organized  into  corporations,^  having  assemblies, 
and  doubtless  having  leaders  too,  counting  among  them  wealthy, 
active,  and  intelligent  men,  they  formed  a  class  so  much  the  more 
dangerous  as  they  represented  more  truly  than  the  real  plebeians  — 
by  the  diversity  of  their  origin  and  the  stain  of  their  birth  or 
professions  —  the  revolutionary  principle  which  was  to  throw  Rome 
oj^en  to  all  nations.  In  312  b.  c.  they  nearly  obtained  possession 
of  power. 

Appius  was  then  censor.  He  was  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished men  of  his  time,  a  great  orator,  a  great  lawyer  and 
poet ;  but  he  was  also  the  proudest  of  the  haughty  race  of  the 
Claudii,  who  counted  among  them  five  dictatorships,  thirty-two 
consulships,  seven  censorships,  seven  triumphs,  and  two  ovations, 
and  who  ended  with  four  emperors.  Contrary  to  custom,  Appius 
had  canvassed  for  the  censorship  before  the  consulship.  This 
irresponsible    office,    which   gave    into   a   man's    power   the   moneys 

1  Aera  pro  rapite  praehehant.  They  ■were  only  armed  in  cases  of  extreme  peril,  and  tliey 
were  subject  to  an  arbitrary  tax,  heavier  in  proportion  than  that  of  the  citizens.  (Cf.  Dionys., 
iv.  18;  ix.  25;  and  Livy,  iv.  24;  viii.  20;  ix.  4G  ;  xlii.  27,  31.)  The  inhabitants  of  towns 
which  had  the  right  of  citizenship  sine  suff'rayio,  the  Italians  who  had  settled  at  Rome,  after 
having  received  the /us  commcrcil  and  even  theyus  connubii,  were  in  the  same  category. 

^  We  have  spoken  of  the  corporations  of  Nunia,  which  we  again  found  in  the  centuries  of 
workmen  of  Servius  (see  p.  244,  seq.).  Fortunes  are  now  estimated  according  to  the  sura 
total  of  property  movable  or  immovable.  At  Rome  all  that  was  recognized  by  the  censors 
in  their  estimates  was  quiritarian  property,  that  is  to  say,  all  the  jts  mancipl  (coined  bronze, 
houses,  fields,  slaves,  beasts  of  burden).  Many  merchants,  usurers,  creditors,  shipowners, 
artisans,  indirect  holders  of  the  domain  (for  the  aerarius  had  no  direct  share  in  the  conquered 
lauds,  since  he  did  not  serve)  might  be  very  rich,  and  yet  find  themselves  counted  among  the 
aerarii. 


THE  AGRARIAN   LAW  AND  THE  ABOLITION   OF  DEBT.       407 

of  the  Republic  and  the  honor  of  the  citizens,  was  the  true  royalty 
at  Rome.  When  he  had  obtained  it  he  kept  it,  it  is  said,  five 
years,  in  spite  of  the  laws,  the  Senate,  and  the  tribunes.  He 
overruled  his  colleague,  who  finally  abdicated,  and  he  did  not 
allow  an}'  successor  to  be  appointed.  His  ambition  was  great. 
In  an  age  of  niilitary  glory  he  preferred  that  which  civil  works 
confer.  During  his  consulship  he  left  the  other  consul  to  make 
war  against  the  Samnites,  while  he  remained  at  Rome  to  finish 
his  aqueduct,  7  miles  long,  and  the  Appian  Way,  viarum  regina. 
The  pride  of  his  answer  to  Pyrrhus  is  well  known ;  before  the 
Samnites  were  yet  conquered,  he  declared  that  Italy  was  the 
domain  of  the  Republic. 

Traditional  history  makes  Appius  one  of  those  ambitious  patri- 
cians who  ask  power  from  the  mob.  It  was  hateful  to  him,  it 
is  said,  to  see  plebeians  in  office ;  and  in  detestation  of  that  burgher 
class  which  the  patricians  no  longer  dared  resist,  he  flattered  the 
populace,  which,  in  spite  of  its  demagogic  instincts,  often  yields 
to  the  ascendency  of  great  names  and  great  fortunes.  In  draw- 
ing up  the  list  of  the  Senate,  Appius  put  into  it  the  sons  of 
some  freedmen.  There  was  a  general  indignation  among  the 
plebeian  nobility.^  The  consuls  and  tribunes  refused  to  accept  the 
senate  of  Appius.  To  this  refusal  he  replied  by  a  far  more 
dangerous  innovation :  he  distributed  througlf  the  tribes  the  aerarii, 
the  lihertini.  —  in  short,  the  masses  of  the  lowly  (kumiles),  as  Livy 
says.'^  This  was  simply  placing  the  votes  in  their  hands,  to 
shake  the  constitution ;  and  Appius  thought  it  would  be  easy  to 
lead  this  populace  and  gain  its  voice. 

A  simpler  explanation  offers  itself,  and  is  justified  by  his 
character,  and  by  the  two  consulships  which  he  gained  after  his 
censorship,^  which  the  nobles  could  easil}-  have  hindered  him  from 
obtaining.  The  Samnite  war,  commenced  twenty  years  before,  had 
just  broken  out  again  with  murderous  violence,  and  the  plague 
had  raged  fiercely  in  the  preceding  year.  In  order  to  fill  up  the 
gap  made  in  the  population,   Appius    inscribed  on   the   register  of 

'  They  accused  Appius  of  overturning  religion,  as  well  as  the  constitution,  by  allowing 
the  Potitii  and  Pinarii  to  leave  to  slaves  the  care  of  the  sacrifices  which  they  owed  to 
Hercules.      The  god  punished  him  by  striking  him  blind.      (Livy,  i.\.  29.) 

^  Humilihus  pfi-  omnes  tnbu.i  ilivisi.i.     (Id.  ix.  4C.) 

'  In  307  and  29G  u.  c. 


408 


KOME    UNDER   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 


the  census  the  aerarii  who  were  exempt  from  military  service. 
This  policy  was  hateful  to  those  wlio,  through  their  fathers  or 
themselves,  had  striven  against  all  novelties ;  Ijut  it  caused  the 
greatness  of  Rome,  by  proclaiming  the  spirit  of  assimilation  with 
foreign  races  instead  of  a  narrow  and  jealous  patriotism.      As    for 


-J., 


i^ 


^  I— i  !s^] — ' — ^ 


Jufuiui-pyiii 


CAUSEWAY   IN    THE    VALLEY    OF    ARICIA    FOR    THE    PASSAGE    OF    THE    APPIAN   WAY.l 


the  sons  of  freedmen  called  to  the  Senate  l)y  Ajipius,  they  must 
have  been  very  few,  for  there  is  nothing  said  about  their  exj^ul- 
sion  by  the  succeeding  censors,  —  though,  of  course,  this  may  have 
taken  place  without  any  noise. 

The  law  allowed  the  censors,'  who  were  appointed  every  five 
years,  to  retain  office  for  only,  eighteen  months  ;  and  Appius  is 
accused  of  not  having  abdicated  till  the  end  of  five  years.  He 
could  only  have  committed  this  breach  of  law  by  the  support  of 
a  powerful  party  in  the  Senate  and  among  the  people ;    but  it  is 

^  Atlas  of  the  Bull,  archeol.  vol.  ii.  ])1.  39. 


THE   ACRAEIAN    LAW   AND   THE   ABOLITION   OF   DEBT.     409 

more  than  probable  that  in  order  to  allow  liini  to  complete  his 
immense  works,  he  was  furnished  with  a  commission  wliich  was 
looked  upon  as  the  continuation  of  his  censorship.  Whatever  may- 
be the  truth  about  these  accusations  and  our  hypotheses,  posterity 
owes  honor  to  the  man  who,  after  having  taught  the  Romans  the 
importance  to  empire  and  commerce  of  rapid  means  of  commu- 
nication, built  the  first  of  those  aqueducts  which  led  the  water  of 
neio-hboring  hills  to  Rome  '"  on  triumphal  arches."  His  was 
subterranean,  but  most  of  the  other  thirteen,  which  were  built 
later,  were  not  so;  and  their  colossal  rums  give  to  the  desert  of 
the  Roman  Campagna  that  solemn  and  grave  aspect  which  reminds 
us  that  a  great  people  has  lived  there. 

With  Appius  and  his  reforms  is  associated  the  clerk  Flavins, 
himself  the  son  of  a  freedman,  and  made  a  senator  by  Appius. 
The  publication  of  the  calendar  of  the  pontiffs  and  of  the  secret 
formulae  of  legal  proceedings  {jus  Flacianum),  which  he  had  managed 
to  discover  by  attending  law-suits,  had  gained  him  the  gratitude 
of  business  men,  who  forced  him  mto  the  tribuneship,  had  him 
twice  appointed  triumvir,^  and  promised  him  their  voices  for  the 
curule  aedileship.  The  whole  nobihty,  those  who  were  already 
called  "  the  better  classes,"  were  moved  at  this  strange  novelty,  and 
the  president  of  the  elective  comitia  tried  to  refuse  votes  given  for 
him  (304).  When  his  election  was  known,  the  senators,  in  grief 
and  shame,  took  off  their  golden  rings,  the  knights  the  ornaments 
of  their  war-horses,  and  the  first  time  he  entered  his  colleague's 
house,"  no  one  rose  to  yield  him  a  place.  But  he  had  his  curule 
chair  brought  in,  and  those  who  scorned  the  upstart  were  obliged 
to   bend   before   the    magistrate. 

These  bravados  might  stir  up  passions ;  but  Flavins  displayed 
the  temper  of  a  statesman,  and  not  that  of  an  ambitious  upstart. 
He  spoke  of  peace,  of  concord,  and,  like  Camillus,  vowed  a  temple 
to  the  reconciliation  of  all  the  orders.  As  the  Senate  would  not 
give  him  the  money  necessary  for  the  building  of  the  temple,  he 
employed   upon    it    the    proceeds    of    fines,    and    the   people   forced 

*  Triumvir  noctuntiis  and  triumvir  coloniae  deducendae.     (Livy,  xi-  46.) 
'  Livy,  ibid.;  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.,  .xx.Kiii.  6;  Cic,  ile  Orat.  i.  41;  Ejj.  ad  Att.  vi.  1.     His 
colleague,  Q.  Anicius  of  Praeneste,  had  only  been  a  Roman  citizen  for  a  few  years.     Their 
competitors  were  two  plebeians  of  consular  family,  Poetelius  and  Domitius.    (Pliny,  ib.  x.\.\iii.  6.) 


410  ROME   UNDEE   THE   PATRICIAN   CONSULS. 

the  chief  pontiff,  who  had  at  first  refused,  to  consecrate  the 
building. 

The  measure  taken  by  Appius  in  respect  to  the  aerarii  was  a 
just  and  good  one ;  but  the  manner  in  which  it  had  been  carried 
out  rendered  it  dangerous.  If  spread  through  tlie  thirty-five 
tribes,  tlie  populace  would  have  become  masters  of  all  the  votes. 
When,  in  304,  Fabius,  the  most  illustrious  of  the  patricians,  and 
Decius,  the  chief  of  the  plebeian  nobility,  had  been  appointed 
censors,  they  allowed  the  aerarii  to  retain  the  rights  which  Appius 
had  given  them;  but  they  enrolled  them  in  the  four  city  tribes, 
where,  notwithstanding  their  number,  they  had  only  four  votes 
against  thirty-one.  This  measure  gained  for  Fabius  among  the 
patricians  the  surname  of  Maximus,  which  his  victories  had  not 
conferred  on  him,  and  the  city  tribes  were  thenceforth  held  to  be 
debased ;  it  became  a  punishment  to  be  enrolled  in  them  by  the 
censors.  Appius  was  right  in  doing  away  with  the  civic  degrada- 
tion of  a  numerous  class,  and  Fabius  in  taking  precautions  lest  the 
"  new    social   stratum "    should    stifle   the    old. 

In  order  to  increase  the  external  splendor  of  the  nobility, 
the  same  censors  instituted  an  annual  review  of  knights.  On  the 
15th  of  July  they  proceeded  on  horselaack  from  the  Temple  of  Mars 
to  the  Capitol,  clad  in  white  robes  striped  with  purple,  wearing 
olive  crowns  on  their  heads,  and  bearing  the  military  rewards 
accorded  to  their  valor.  Thus  every  year  this  brilliant  array  of 
youth  passed,  proud  and  glorious,  before  the  eyes  of  the  people, 
inspiring  them  with  respect  and  awe.  This  Avas  the  festival  of  the 
Roman  nobility.^ 

We  did  not  wish,  by  the  narration  of  the  complicated  wars 
of  this  period,  to  draw  off  attention  from  the  development  of  the 
Roman  constitution  from  the  time  of  the  tribune  Licinius  to  that 
of   the    dictator    Hortensius    (367-286).^     Now    that    we    know   the 

'  [It  was  probably  a  direct  imitation  of  the  Panatbenaic  festival  at  Athens,  wbieb  wo  see 
in  the  frieze  of  the  Parthenon.  —  /irf.] 

^  There  have  been  reekoned  for  the  fifth  century  nearly  two  hundred  patricians  who  had 
borne  office ;  for  the  fourth  not  more  than  half  this  number  are  found,  and  more  than  forty 
plebeians  obtained  m-agistracies.  In  29,5  the  former  still  have  a  majority  in  the  Senate  (I-ivy 
X.  24),  but  their  number  continually  diminishes,  whereas  that  of  the  plebeians,  after  the  0\inian 
law,  increases  unceasingly.  (See  p.  348.)  In  179,  out  of  304  senators,  M.  Willems,  in  his 
remarkable  essay  on  the  "  Scnat  de  la  Republiipie  Romaine,"  p.  36G,  finds  eightj-eight  patri- 
cians and  two  hundred  and  si.Kteen   plebeians. 


THE   AGEAEIAN   LAW   AND   THE   ABOLITION   OF   DEBT.     411 

state  of  this  society,  so  happily  blended  of  aristocracy,  represented 
by  the  Senate,  which  retained  the  daily  government  of  the  Republic, 
and  of  democracy,  re[)resented  by  the  people,  who  had  the  last  word 
in  all  grave  affairs ;  now  that  we  have  seen  how  out  of  so  many 
diverse  elements  there  grew  this  city,  in  which  the  nobility, 
whether  of  ancient  or  recent  origin,  is  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
the  state,  in  which  small  landowners  fill  the  legions  and  the  Forum, 
conquer  provinces  by  their  discipline,  and  protect  liberty  by  their 
wisdom,  —  we  may  revert  to  the  tedious  history  of  the  long-continued 
struggle  of  the  Italians  against  Rome. 

1  Roman    knight   holding   his  horse   by  the   bridle.      Reverse   of   a  silver   coin   of   the 
Licinian    family. 


p.  CKASsus  M.  r.i 


THIRD    PERIOD. 

WAR    OF    ITALIAN    INDEPENDENCE,    OR    CONQUEST 
OF    ITALY    (343-265). 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

WARS  WITH  THE  SAMNITES  AND  LATINS  (343-312). 

I.   First  Samnite  War  ;   Acquisition  of  Capua  (343-341). 

SINCE  the  Licinian  laws  had  re-established  concord  in  the  city, 
Rome  displayed  a  formidable  energy  abroad.  In  the  space  of 
twenty-three  years  she  had  freed  herself  from  the  Gauls  for  the 
next  half  century  ;  the  only  Etruscan  towns  which  had  dared  to 
attack  her  had  learned  fatal  e-vidence  of  their  weakness ;  and 
the  whole  plain  of  Latium  was  occupied  by  Roman  citizens  and 
allies.  If  there  still  remained  in  the  mountains  any  independent 
and  secretly  hostile  Latm  or  Volscian  cities,  the  Senate  kept  them 
surrounded  by  the  garrisons  established  at  Terracina  on  the  sea, 
and  at  Sora  in  the  Valley  of  the  Liris.  Within  the  city  the 
patricians  had  failed  in  their  counter-revolutionary  attempts,  and 
the  laws  of  Genucius  and  Publilius  were  about  to  complete  the 
plebeian  revolution.-*  Nothing,  however,  foretold,  except  perhaps 
the  strong  organization  of  this  little  nation,  that  its  fortunes  would 
ever  extend  beyond  these  narrow  limits.  It  ■yvas  the  battles 
against  the  Samnites  that  decided  the  future  of  Rome.  Hitherto, 
from  the  time  of  the  kings,  she  had  with  difficulty  defended 
herself.  The  new  struggle,  in  which  her  very  existence  is  at 
stake,  and  at  the  end  of  which  she  finds  herself  mistress  of  Italy, 

1  See  chap.  xiii. 


WARS  WITH    SAMNITES  A2iD   LATINS   FROM   343   TO   312.     413 

must  needs  make  her  a  conquering  state.  Tlie  fight  on  Mount 
Gaurus  is  tlie  first  battle  of  a  war  whicli  ends  on  the  summits  of 
Atlas  and  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  the  Danube,  and  Euphrates. 

We  have  seen  ^  what  the  country  of  tlie  Samnites  was :  snowy 
peaks,  wild  valleys,  where  life  was  hard  and  manners  warlike,  and 
the  need  of  putting  under  contribution  the  plains  at  the  foot  of 
the  Apennines  ever  pressing.  They  loved  war,  and  in  order  to 
succeed  in  it,  they  had  reached  a  pitch  of  military  organization 
scarcely  inferior  to  that  of  the  Romans.  But,  being  scattered 
among  the  mountains,  they  had  neither  any  great  town  to  serve 
as  a  citadel,  nor  a  political  organization  which  might  unite  the 
inhabitants  of  the  territoi'y  in  close  bonds.  Sometimes  a  temporary 
league  united  their  forces,  and  for  any  enterprise  once  determined 
they  chose  a  chief  to  lead  their  warriors  ;  but  of  any  executive 
power  like  that  of  the  consuls,  or  permanent  council  like  the 
Senate,  or  any  sovereign  assembly  like  the  comitia  of  Rome,  —  that 
is  to  say,  of  one  of  the  most  vigorous  political  constitutions  of 
antiquity,  —  they  knew  nothing. 

While  Rome  advanced  towards  Latium,  Southern  Etruria,  and 
the  Sabine  country,  securing  every  step  Isy  the  occupation  of  all 
strategic  positions,  and  leaving  as  little  as  possible  to  chance,  the 
Samnites  went  in  search  of  adventures.  Now  they  conquered  Cam- 
pania ;  again  Magna  Graecia ;  but  no  tie  attached  these  new  settle- 
ments to  the  mother  country,  and  their  colonies  soon  forgot  the 
people  whence  they  had  sprung;  so  that,  though  Samnite  bands 
made  rich  captures  and  took  possession  of  fertile  lands,  the  Samnite 
state  increased  neither  in  size  nor  strength.  Strictly  speaking,  it 
did  not  exist.  And  yet  these  turbulent  mountaineers  had  great 
ambition.  When  they  saw  the  Romans  established  at  Sora,  a  few 
steps  from  their  territory,  they  wished  to  take  up  a  position 
between  Campania  and  Latium,  by  seizing  the  country  of  the 
Sidicini.  Teanum,  the  capital  of  this  people,  was  situated  on  a 
group  of  mountains  shut  in  between  the  Liris  and  the  semicircular 
course  of  the  Vulturnus ;  from  its  walls  might  be  seen  Capua,  be^-ond 
the  Vulturnus,  and  Minturnae,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Liris.  These 
two   places   and   the    road   between   Latium   and  Campania   would 

'  Page  88  sei]. 


414  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

have  been  at  the  mercy  of  the  Samnites,  if  they  had  made  the 
conquest  of  the  country  of  the  Sidicini.  Accordingly,  the  Capuans 
promised  aid  to  Teanum.  But  their  enervated  troops  could  not 
withstand  the  active  mountaineers ;  they  were  twice  beaten,  and 
driven  back  into  Capua,  which  the  Samnites,  encamped  on  Mount 
Tifata,  a  mile  from  its  walls,  held  ■  as  it  were  besieged.^  In  this 
extremity  the  Campanians  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome  (343).  Eleven 
years  before,  a  common  hatred  of  the  Volscians  and  the  fear  of  the 
Gallic  bands  had  drawn  the  Romans  and  Samnites  together ;  a 
treaty  had  been  concluded.  This  was  the  pretext  which  the  Senate 
used  to  reject  the  first  demands  of  the  Campanians,  and  making 
them  buy  aid  at  a  high  price.  "  Well !  "  said  the  deputies, 
"  will  you  refuse  to  defend  what  belongs  to  you  ?  Capua  gives 
herself  to  you  with  her  lands,  her  temples,  everything,  sacred  and 
profane."  The  Senate  accepted ;  but  when  its  envoys  came  to  bid 
the  Samnite  generals  desist  from  attacking  a  town  which  had 
become  Roman  property,  the  latter  replied  by  ordering  the  rav- 
aging of  the  Campanian  lands ;  and  a  war  of  sixty-eight  years 
began. 

State  reasons  were  doubtless  invoked  to  break  off  the  treaty 
so  recently  concluded  with  the  Samnites.  It  was  impossible 
to  allow  the  enfeebled  nations  of  the  Volscians  and  Auruncians, 
of  the  Sidicini  and  Campanians,  to  be  replaced  at  the  very  gates  of 
Latium  l)y  a  brave  and  enterprising  people  ;  if  this  torrent  were 
not  confined  to  the  mountains,  soon  no  dam  would  be  able  to 
restrain  it.  The  Latins  believed  this.  Accordingly,  the  war  was  for 
them  a  national  one,  and  they  entered  into  it  with  more  ardor 
than  the  Romans  had  desired.  Three  armies  were  set  afoot.  One, 
under  the  command  of  Valerius  Corvus,  went  to  relieve  Capua ; 
another,  led  by  Cornelius,  penetrated  into  Samnium ;  while  the 
Latin  allies  crossed  the  Apennines  in  order  to  attack  the  Samnites 
in  the  rear,  through  the  country  of  the  Peligni. 

The  historians  of  Rome  have,  of  course,  preserved  no  recoi'd 
of  the  operations  of  the  Latin  army.  Regarding  the  Roman 
legions,  on  the  other  hand,   details   are  given  in  abundance.^     Let 

'  Livy,   vii.    29,  seq.  .  .  .  imminentis    Capuae   coUes,   now   called   Monte   di  Maddalonu 
Hannibal  established  his  camp  there  in  215. 
'  Livy,  vii.  32,  seq. 


WARS  WITH    SAMNITES   AND    LATINS    FKOM   343  TO   312.     415 

US  not  complain  of  this,  for  tliey  offer  us  examples  of  devotion, 
which  are  always  good  to  contemplate,  and  they  show  us  the 
Roman  in  that  camp-life  in  which  he  learned  the  secret  of  con- 
quering the  world.  Cornelius,  entangled  among  steep  mountains, 
had  allowed  himself  to  be  shut  up  in  a  narrow  gorge  ;  when  he 
became  aware  of  it,  it  was  already  too  late  to  force  a  passage.  A 
military  tribune,  Decius  Mus,  then  approached  the  consul,  and 
showed  him  a  hill  which  commanded  the  hostile  camp,  and  which 
the  Samnites  had  neglected  to  occupy,  and  said  to  him :  "  Seest 
thou  yonder  rock  ?  It  will  be  our  safety  if  we  can  manage  to 
gain  possession  of  it  immediately.  Give  me  the  principes  and 
hastati  of  a  single  legion ;  ^  as  soon  as  I  have  climbed  the  summit 
with  them,  march  immediately ;  the  enemy  will  not  dare  to 
follow  thee.  As  for  us,  the  fortune  of  the  Roman  people  and 
our  courage  will  carry  us  through."  The  consul  accepted  the 
offer ;  Decius  set  out ;  and  it  was  only 
as  they  gained  the  summit  that  the 
Samnites  perceived  them.  The  danger 
was  now  transferred  to  their  side. 
Whilst    their    attention    was    drawn    to 

DECIUS   MDS.2 

this    quarter,    and    they    were    turning 

their  standards  against  Decius,  the  consul  escaped.  Decius,  mean- 
while, disguised  in  the  cloak  of  a  legionary,  took  advantage  of 
the  last  rays  of  daylight  to  reconnoitre  the  position.  When 
night  had  fallen,  he  called  the  centurions,  and  ordered  them 
to  assemble  their  soldiers  in  silence  at  the  second  watch.  They 
had  already  traversed  half  the  enemy's  camp,  when  a  Roman,  in 
stepping  over  a  sleeping  Samnite,  made  his  shield  clash.  At  this 
noise  the  Samnites  were  alarmed.  Decius  then  ordered  his  men  to 
shout,  and  to  slay  all  whom  they  met.  The  uncertainty,  the 
darkness,  the  shouts  of  the  Romans,  the  groans  of  the  wounded, 
caused  confusion  among  the  enemy ;  and  Decius  brought  l^ack  his 
detachment  safe  and  sound  to  the  consular  army.  This  success 
was  not  enough  for  him ;  he  advised  the  consul  to  take  ad\-antage 

1  On  the  composition  of  a  Roman  legion,  see  below,  at  the  end  of  chap,  xxvii. 

^  Head  of  I'allas.  with  X.  the  mark  of  a  denarius:  on  the  reverse,  ItOMA,  and  the  Dios- 
curi on  horseback  :  under  their  feet  a  Gallic  shield  and  trumpet.  Silver  coin  of  the  Decii,  as 
is  proved  by  a  coin  restored  by  Trajan,  of  which  a  unitjue  specimen  is  found  in  the  Museum  of 
Denmark,  and  on  which  the  same  symbols  exist  accompanied  by  the  legend  :  Decius  Mus. 


416  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

of  the  disarray  of  the  enemy.  The  Samnites,  attacked  before 
they  had  recovered  from  their  surprise,  were  defeated,  their  camp 
was  taken,  and  the  Romans   inflicted  a  fearful  slaughter  on  them. 

On  the  morrow  the  consul  commended  Decius  in  the  presence 
of  the  whole  army.  Besides  the  customary  military  presents,  he 
gave  him  a  golden  crown,  a  hundred  oxen,  and  a  white  bull  with 
gilded  horns ;  and  to  each  of  his  soldiers  an  ox,  two  tunics,  and 
a  double  ration  of  wheat  for  his  whole  life.  After  the  consul,  the 
legions  which  Decius  had  saved  from  death  or  dishonor,  and  the 
detachments  which  he  had  drawn  out  of  a  dangerous  position, 
were  also  anxious  to  reward  their  deliverer  and  amid  universal 
acclamations  the  ohsidional  crown  was  placed  upon  his  head.  It 
was  only  made  of  grass  or  wild  herbs,  but  it  was  the  greatest 
military  honor  that  a  citizen  could  obtain,  and  the  army  alone 
had  the  right  to  bestow  it.  Decorated  with  these  insignia,  Deciua 
sacrificed  the  bull  with  the  gilded  horns  before  a  rustic  altar  of 
Mars,  and  presented  the  hundred  oxen  to  the  jjmicipes  and  Jiastati 
who  had  followed  him.  To  each  of  these  same  soldiers  the 
other  legionaries  gave  a  pound  of  meal  and  a  measure  of  wine. 
What  wonderful  men  they  were,  to  whom  gratitude  was  as  natural 
as  devotion !  It  is  easily  understood  how  the  memory  of  that 
glorious  day  colored  the  whole  life  of  Decius,  and  inspired  him 
with    the    idea    of   his    crowning   sacrifice. 

All  the  honor  of  this  campaign  was  reserved  for  the  other 
consul,  Valerius  Corvus.  He,  with  Manlius,  of  whom  we  shall 
see  more  presently,  was  the  hero  of  the  Gallic  wars.  Beloved  by 
the  people,  as  were  all  of  his  house,  he  still  retained  amid  the  camp 
and  under  the  consular  robe  his  popular  manners,  affable  witli 
the  soldiers,  sharing  their  privations  and  fatigues,  and  setting  all 
an  example  of  courage.  Six  times  he  obtained  the  curule  aedile- 
ship,  the  praetorship  and  consulship,  twice  the  dictatorship  and  a 
triumph.^  He  had  seen  Camillus  die,  and  the  Romans  trembling 
before  a  few  Gallic  bands ;  he  saw  the  close  of  the  Samnite  war, 
which  gave  Rome  the  rule  of  all  Italy,  and  he  almost  saw  the 
commencement  of  the  Punic  wars,  which  left  in  her  hands  the 
empire   of   the   world.     And    during    the    course    of    this    century- 

1  Pliny.   Nat.   Hist.   vii.   48. 


WAES  WITH    SAMNITES   AND   LATINS   FROM   343   TO   312.    417 

long  life  he  never  failed  the  Republic  one  day,  in  action  or  in 
council.  In  343  he  was  m  his  third  consulship.  Being  charged 
to  drive  the  Samnites  out  of  Campania,  he  went  to  seek  theiri 
near  Moimt  Gaurus,  and  inspired  his  troops  with  such  ardor, 
that  after  the  fight  the  prisoners  confessed,  says  Livy,-'  that  they 
had  been  terror-.struck  when  they  saw  the  legionaries'  eyes  flash 
like  fire  beneath  their  helmets.  All  Capua  came  out  to  meet  the 
conqueror.  At  Rome  a  triumph  awaited  him,  gained  by  a  second 
victory  near  Suessula.  These  successes  resounded  far  and  wide ;  the 
Faliscans  asked  to  change,  the  truce  into  an  alliance ;  and  the  Cartha- 
ginians, friendly  towards  a  power  which  was  rising  l^etween  their 
rivals,  the  Greeks  and  Etruscans,  sent  an  embassy  to  congratulate 
the  Senate,  and  to  place  a  crown  of  gold  in  the  Capitol. 

When  winter  came  on,  the  Romans,  at  the  request  of  the 
inhabitants,  placed  garrisons  in  the  Campanian  towns.  We  have 
related  the  revolt  of  these  legionaries  and  its  consequences.^ 
When  the  sedition  was  pacified,  the  Senate,  who  felt  tliat  the 
state  was  shaken,  and  that  the  Latins  threatened  trouble,  renounced 
the  Samnite  war,  only  requiring  a  year's  pay  and  three  months' 
provisions  for  the  army  of  the  consul  Aemilius  (341).  For  this 
price  they  abandoned  Teanum  and  Capua  to  the  Samnites.  The 
Latins  continued  hostilities  on  their  own  account,  in  league  with 
the  Volscians,  Aiu'unci,  Sidicini,  and  Campanians ;  and  when  tlie 
Samnites  came  to  Rome  to  complain,  the  senators  were  obliged 
to  answer  that  they  had  not  the  right  to  prevent  their  allies  from 
making  war  on  whomsoever  they  chose.* 


II.   The  Latin  War  (340-338). 

Since  the  first  Gallic  invasion,  Rome  had  always  found 
enemies  in  Latium.  Though  common  dangers  had  drawn  several 
cities  closer  to  her  in  357,  these  did  not  accept  her  supremacy 
with  the  same  resignation  as  in  the  days  when  the  legions  yearly 

'  Livy,  vii.  33,  38. 
»  See  p.  332. 

^  ...  In  foedere  Latino  nihil  esse,  quo  hcllarc  cum  quibus  ipsi  velint  prohibeantur.  (Livy, 
viii.  2.) 

VOL.  I.  27 


418  CONQUEST   OF    ITALY. 

came  to  defend  them  against  the  Aequi  and  the  Volsci.  The 
enfeeblement  of  those  two  nations  and  the  departure  of  the  Gauls 
having  removed  the  fears  of  the  Latins,  tlieir  jealousy  awoke ; 
an  alliance  with  the  Sidicini  and  Campanians,  whom  Rome  had 
abandoned,  increased  their  confidence,  and  the  successful  issue  of 
the  revolt  of  the  cohorts  in  Campania  led  them  to  believe  that 
their  own  defection  would  also  be  successful.  Soon  there  arrived 
at  Rome  two  Latin  praetors,  Annius  of  Setia  and  Numicius  of 
Circeii.  They  demanded  what  the  plebeians  had  just  obtained, 
equality  of  political  rights,  —  that  is,  that  one  of  the  two  consuls 
and  half  the  senators  should  be  taken  from  among  tlie  Latins.  On 
these  conditions  Rome  would  remain  the  capital  of  Latium.  The 
national  pride  revolted.  "  Hear  these  blasphemies,  0  Jupiter ! " 
cried  Manlius ;  and  he  swore  to  stab  the  first  Latin  who  should 
come  to  take  his  seat  in  the  Senate. 

Annius  replied  with  insulting  words  against  Rome  and  her 
Jupiter  Capitolinus.  But  the  lightning  flashed,  says  tradition ;  peals 
of  thunder  shook  the  Curia ;  and  as  Annius  quitted  the  Capitol 
to  descend  the  flight  of  a  hundred  steps,  he  missed  his  footing 
and  rolled  to  the  bottom,  where  he  lay  lifeless.  The  god  had 
avenged  himself.^ 

War  was  declared  (340).  Rome  was  now,  by  the  defection 
of  the  Latin  towns,  obliged  to  fight  with  men  accustomed  to  her 
discii^line,  her  arms,  and  her  tactics.^  The  danger  was  immense; 
but  men's  courage  rose  with  the  danger.  The  consuls  at  that 
time  were  Manlius,  whose  severity  gained  him  the  surname  of 
Imperiosus,  and  Decius  Mus,  of  that  noble  plebeian  family,  in 
which  devotion  to  their  country  became  hereditary.  While  the 
consuls  raised  the  best  levies,  strengthened  discipline,  and  made  all 
preparations  with  the  activity  and  resources  which  a  centralized 
power  afford,  the  Senate  kept  up  its  alliance  with  Ostia, 
Laurentum,  Ardea,  the  Hernicans,  and  perhaps  Lanuvium,  and 
secured  the  neutrality  of  Fundi  and  Formiae,  and  the  favorable 
regards  of  the  Campanian  aristocracy.  But  the  most  important 
aid   reached   it   from    Samnium,    the    treaty    of   peace   between   the 

*  Livy  (viii.  6),  who  wishes  to  bring  this  legend  into  Iiistoric  possibility,  only  speaks  of  a 
fall  followed  by  a  swoon. 
2  Livy,  viii.  12,  13. 


WAES  WITH  SAMNITES  AND  LATINS   FROM  343  TO  312.    -119 

two  nations  being  changed  into  a  treaty  of  offensive  alliance.  Tn 
the  first  days  of  spring  the  Roman  army  (jnietly  crossed  the 
country  of  the  Marsians,  Pelignians,  and  Samnites,  reinforced  on 
the  way  from  the  forces  of  their  new  allies,  eager  with  the  hope 
of  plunder  in  the  rich  valleys  of  the  Campanians.  While  the 
consular  army  was  arriving  secretly  by  this  bold  march  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Capua,  another,  under  the  praetor,  Pap.  Crassus, 
protected  the  city,  and  held  in  check  the  Latins  who  had  not 
joined  on  their  way  through  Campania  the  forces  destined  to 
invade    Samnium. 

The  battle  took  place  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Vesuvius,  near 
a  brook  called  Veseris.  All  the  nations  of  Central  Italy  met  there, 
the  Romans  with  the  Hernicans  and  Sabellian  tribes ;  the  Latins 
with  the  Oscan  nations  who  dwelt  between  the  Numicius  and  the 
Silarus.  It  might  have  been  called  a  struggle  between  the  two 
ancient  Italian  races.  Before  the  battle  a  Tusculan,  named 
Geminus  Metius,  challenged  to  a  single  combat 
the  consul's  son,  whom  he  had  recognized  at 
the  head  of  a  troop  of  knights.  "  Wilt  thou," 
he  ci'ied,  after  the  exchange  of  some  boasts 
on  either  side,  "  w^ilt  thou  measure  thyself  with 
me  ?  It  will  then  be  seen  how  much  the  Latin 
horseman  excels  the  Roman." 

Manlius  accepted,  and  conquered.  He  re- 
turned, surrounded  with  soldiers  rejoicing  in  this 
happy  omen,  to  offer  the  spoils  of  the  van- 
quished to  his  father.  But  he  had  fought 
without  orders ;  and  for  this  war,  in  which  the 
combatants  had  so  much  in  common  —  arms,  tactics,  and  language 
—  in  which  so  many  soldiers  had  ties  of  family  and  military 
comradeship  with  both  sides,  an  edict  of  the  consuls  had  strictly 
forbidden  any  one  to  leave  the  ranks,  even  in  the  hope  of  striking 
a  lucky  blow.  Discipline  had  been  violated.  Like  Brutus,  tile 
consul  overcame  the  father,  and  the  young  Manlius  was  beheaded. 
The  army  bent  beneath  this  iron  hand. 

On   the    day  of   battle,  the    left   wing,    commanded   by   Decius, 


PRIEST    OF    BELLONA. 


'  From  a  funeral  stela,  with  tlie  (^age  and  bird  which  served  to  take  the  auspices. 


420      ■  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

began  to  give  way.  The  consul  called  the  high  pontiff  to  him, 
and  with  veiled  head  and  a  javelin  under  his  foot  he  invoked  Janus, 
Mars,  and  Bellona,^  and  pronounced  the  sacred  formulae  which, 
for  the  safety  of  the  legions,  dedicated  himself  and  the  hostile 
army  to  the  gods  of  the  lower  world.  Then,  mounted  on  his  war- 
horse,  and  clad  in  all  his  armor,  with  his  toga  girt  about  him,^ 
he  rushed  mto  the  midst  of  the  enemy's  ranks,  where  he  soon 
fell,  pierced  with  many  blows.  This  religious  preparation,  this 
heroic  devotion,  witnessed  by  both  armies,  the  belief  that  the 
blood  of  this  voluntary  victim  had  redeemed  that  of  the  Roman 
army,  inspired  the  consular  legions  with  the  certainty  of  victory, 
and  the  Latins  with  as  great  a  certainty  of  defeat.  Three 
quarters  of  the  Latin  army  were  left  upon  the  field  of  battle, 
and  Campania  was  reconquered  at  a  blow.  A  skilful  manoeuvre 
on  the  part  of  Manlius,  who  brought  up  his  reseiwes  after  the 
Latins,  deceived  by  a  stratagem,  had  engaged  all  their  forces,  had 
decided  the  victory.  The  remnant  of  the  beaten  army  rallied  at 
Vescia  among  the  Aurunci.  Numicius  led  thither  some  levies 
hastily  raised.  But  a  second  victory,  which  threw  open  Latium, 
broke  up  the  league ;  several  towns  tendered  their  submission ;  and 
on  the  18th  of  May  Manlius  entered  Rome  in  triumpli  (340). 

The  war  was  not  yet  finished ;  the  Senate  hastened,  however, 
to  award  the  punishments  and  rewards.  Capua  lost  the  Falernian 
country,  so  noted  for  its  wine ;  but  sixteen  hundred  Campanian 
knights,  who  had  remained  faithful  to  the  cause  of  Rome,  received 
the  rights  of  citizenship,  with  an  annual  pay  of  450  denarii  each, 
levied  on  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants.  This  was  about  £20,000 
of  English  money,  paid  annually  by  the  Campanian  people  for  the 
treason  of  its  aristocracy.  The  Latin  cities  which  had  just  sub- 
mitted were  also  deprived  of  a  portion  of  their  land.  This  was 
distributed  among  the  citizens,  giving  2  jugcra  a  head  in  Latium, 
and  3  in  the  Falernian  country.^ 

Meanwhile     Manlius,    having     fallen    sick,    appointed     Crassus 

1  Janus,  Jupiter,  Mars  Pater,  Quirinus,  Bellona,  Lares,  divi  Norensiles,  di  Indigetes,  divi, 
quorum  est  potestas  nostrorum  Jiostiutnque,  Diiqiie  Manes.  The  gods  named  by  Decius  are 
the  old  Italian  divinities,  with  Janus  at  their  head :  the  divi  Novensiles  are  the  new  gods. 
Cf.   Cincius,  ap.  Arnob.,  iii.  38. 

^  Ipse  incinctus  cinctu  Gahino.     (Livy,  viii.  0.) 

'  Livy,  viii.  11. 


WAES   WITH   SAMNITES   AND   LATINS    FROM  343  TO   312.     421 

dictator  to  complete  the  reduction  of  Latium.  An  expedition 
against  Antium,  which  led  to  no  results,  was  an  encouragement 
for  the  towns  which  had  remained  in  arms.  A  victory  gained  by 
Publilius  PhUo  did  not  efface  a  cheek  sustained  by  liis  colleague 
at  the  siege  of  Pedum.  The  Republic,  it  is  true,  was  at  this 
period    disturbed    by    troubles   which    led    to    the    dictatorship    and 


fw 


TEMPLE    OF    THE    GIANTS    AT    CUMAE.* 

laws  of  Publilius ;  but  it  was  the  last  act  of  this  long  drama. 
Revolution,  successful  at  home,  was  successful,  too,  abroad ;  and  the 
first  event  of  the  new  era  was  the  total  submission  of  Latium. 

Antium,  on  the  coast,  and  Pedum,  situated  in  front  of  Mount 
Algidus,  were  the  last  two  bulwarks  of  the  league.  The  consuls 
of  the  year  338  divided  between  them  the  attack  on  these  two 
places.  Maulius  marched  against  the  first,  and  beat  the  Latins  in 
the  plain  near  Asturia ;    Furius  took  the  second,  in  spite  of  all  the 

1  Taken  from  the  Biblwlheque.  nationale.  It  should  rather  be  called  the  temple  of  the 
Giant,  for  these  ruins  belong  to  a  small  edifice  from  which  was  taken  a  colossal  statue  of 
Jupiter  seated,  which  is  now  in  the  museum  at  Naples. 


422      •  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

efforts  of  the  Latins  of  the  mountains.      From  this  time  resistance 
ceased,  and  all  the  towns  one  after  another  opened  their  gates. 

It  was  necessary  to  decide  on  the  fate  of  the  vanquished. 
This  was  the  first  time  the  Senate  came  to  settle  matters  of  such 
grave  interest.  They  did  it  with  such  prudence,  that  the  measures 
taken  on  this  occasion  insured  the  fidelity  of  the  Latins  for  ever, 
and  were  invariably  repeated  for  three  centuries  in  all  countries 
conquered  by  the  Republic.  In  the  first  place,  the  inhabitants 
were  forbidden  general  assemblies,  leagues,  to  make  war,  contract 
marriage,  or  acquire  landed  property  outside  their  territory.^  The 
Latin  confederation  was  thus  dissolved,  and  Rome  had  now  before 
her  nothing  but  small  towns  condemned  to  isolation  ;  the  Senate, 
moreover,  awakened,  by  an  unequal  distribution  of  offices  and  priv- 
ileges, those  rivalries  and  municipal  jealousies  always  so  rife  in 
Italian  cities.  The  towns  nearest  Rome  were  attached  to  her 
fortunes  by  the  concession  of  the  rights  of  citizenship  and  of 
voting.  Tusculum  got  the  first  of  these  rights,  not 
the  second.  Lanuvium,  Aricia,  Pedum,  Nomentum, 
<  and   doubtless  Gabii,   had    both,  and    in  the   year  332 


fc- 


_g-^^    two  new  tribes,  Maecia  and  Scaptia,  were  formed  of 
SERPENT  OF     tlicir  Inhabitants.      With  Lanuvium  the  consuls  stipu- 
juNo  sospiTA.-  j.^i^gj-j   i^i^.^j.   they  should  have  free  access  to  the  temple 

of  Juno  Sospita,  in  which  the  consuls  came  yearly  to  offer  solemn 
sacrifices.  In  this  sanctuary  was  nourished  a  serpent,  which  is 
often  represented  on  the  coins. 

Beyond  this  first  line  of  towns,  which  had  become 
Roman,  and  which  protected  the  capital  from  the 
sea  to  the  mountains  of  the  Sabine  country,  Tibur 
and   Praeneste  ^  retained    their  independence,    bvit   lost 

THE    ROSTRA.^ 

a  part  of   their  territory,   Privernum   lost  three  quar- 
ters,  Velitrae    and   Antium    the  whole.      Antium  delivered   up  her 

1  Caeteris  Latinis  populis  connuhia  commerciaque  el  concilia  inter  se  ademerunt.  (Livy, 
viii.  14.) 

^  Girl  approaching  the  serpent  of  Juno  Sos])ita;  below,  FABATI.  Reverse  of  a  silver 
coin  of  the  Roscian  family.     For  the  worship  of  Juno  Sospita,  see  p.  200. 

^  Roman  citizens  condemned  to  exile  could  retire  into  these  two  towns. 

*  The  coin  which  re))resents  them  is  a  denarius  of  M.  Lollius  P.alicanus,  who,  being  tribune 
in  the  year  71,  restored  to  the  tribuneship  the  powers  of  which  Sulla  had  deprived  it.  The 
gens  Lullia  consecrated  this  memory  by  a  coin  bearing  on  one  side  a  head  of  Liberty,  and  on 
the  other  the  platform  for  speeches,  the  rostra,  restored  to  importance  by  Palicanus. 


WARS   WITH    SAMNITES  AND   LATINS   FROM   343  TO   312.     423 

war-sliijis.  the  beaks ^  of  wliieli  went  to  ornament  the  platform  of 
the  Forum,  and  was  forbidden  to  arm  others  in  future.  At  Velitrae 
the  walls  were  razed  and  their  senate  removed  beyond  the  Tiber. 
The  important  position  of  Sora  had  been  for  some  time  occupied 
l)y  a  Roman  garrison ;  Antium,  Velitrae,  Privernum,  and  a  few 
years  later  Anxur  or  Terracina  and  Fregellae,  which  commanded 
the  two  roads  from  Latium  into  Campania,  received  colonies. 
Thus  old  Latium  was  guarded  by  towns  henceforth  well  disposed, 
and  the  country  of  the  Volscians  by  numerous  colonists.  Among 
the  Aurunci,  Fundi,  and  Formiae,  in  Campania  Capua,  whose 
knights  guaranteed  its  fidelity,  the  great  city  of  Cumae,  Suessula, 
Atella.  and  Acerrae  obtained,  as  an 
inducement  to  remain  in  alliance 
with  Rome,  the  rights  of  citizenship 
without  the  suffrage,  or,  as  it  was 
then  called,  the  ricjhts  of  the  Cacrttes 
(338  B.  cy 

In  the  following  year  the  Sidicini 
of    Teanum    and    Gales    attacked    the    Aurunci,    who    inhabited    a 
volcanic    mountain,    the     Cortinella,    the    highest    peak    of    which 
rises  3,200   feet   above    the   plain 
of  Campania.     Fearing,  no  doubt, 
starvation  there,  the  Aurunci  cjiut- 
ted  theu"  e3'rie  and  took  refuge  at 
Suessa,  which  still  exists  (Sessa), 
half    way   up    the    hill,    above   a 
fertile   plain,  the  last  undulations 

of  which  reach  to  the  sea.  The  Senate,  which  never  abandoned 
an  ally,  as  they  never  forgot  an  enemy,  hastened  to  send  to 
their    succor    the    two     consular    armies    and    their    best    general, 


COIN    OI''    CALES.-" 


COIN    OF    SUESSA.^ 


1  The  rostra,  or  brazen  beaks  of  galleys,  filled  the  place  of  the  rams  of  our  ironclads. 

>"  Livy,  viii.  10,  14. 

'  Head  of  ilinerva  ;  on  the  reverse,  CALENO;  Victory  in  a  two-horsed  chariot,  galloping. 
Didrachma,  or  double  denarius  in  silver. 

*  Silver  didrachma,  bearing  on  the  obverse  a  laurel-crowned  head  of  Apollo,  behind,  the 
triqueira,  which  seems  to  show  SiciUan  manufacture ;  on  the  reverse,  the  word  SYESAXO, 
and  a  horseman  victorious  in  a  race  that  perhaps  took  place  in  Sicih',  which  would  explain 
both  the  fineness  of  the  coin  and  the  presence  of  the  triquetra,  the  symbol  of  the  island 
with  three  promontories. 


424  .  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

Valerius  Corvus.  Gales  was  taken/  and  guarded  Ijy  a  colony  of 
2,500  men ;  Teanum  doubtless  asked  for  peace,  —  at  least,  after 
this  period  there  is  no  more  mention  of  the  Sidicini.  The 
Ausones  also  disappear ;  the  Volscians  have  not  been  mentioned 
since  the  disaster  of  Antium ;  the  Rutuli  no  longer  give  any  signs 
of  life ;  most  of  the  Latins  are  citizens  of  Rome ;  the  Aequi, 
Sabines,  and  Hernici  reappear  once  more,  some  to  relapse  imme- 
diately, vanquished  and  broken,  into  the  obscurity  of  municipal 
independence,  others  to  lose  themselves  in  the  great  city.  Thus 
the  state  of  Central  Italy  was  simplified :  to  a  variety  of  nations 
there  succeeds  Roman  unity.  From  the  Ciminian  forest  to  the 
banks  of  the  Vulturnus,  a  single  nation  holds  sway.  But  the 
maluria  follows  the  legions.  The  busy  cities  of  the  Latin  and 
Campanian  coast  lose  their  activity  with  their  independence.  The 
struggle  against  this  invading  nature  relaxes,  the  hai'l^ors  be- 
come blocked,  the  canals  are  choked  up,  the  rivers  spread  abroad 
into  unreclaimed  swamps,  which,  beneath  a  tiery  sky,  continually 
produce  and  destroy  innumerable  organisms,  filling  the  air  in  their 
decomposition  with  the  seeds  of  death.  In  these  depopulated 
countries   fertile   fields    become    deadly    solitudes. 

Rome  herself  suffered  by  it.  Li  the  }'ear  331  a  pestilence 
desolated  the  city.  Numbers  of  the  Senate  had  already  succumbed, 
when  a  slave  came  to  the  aediles  and  declared  that  the  victims  had 
died  by  poison.  An  inquiry  was  held ;  and  in  their  terror  people 
found  some  one  on  whom  to  lay  the  guilt,  as  in  our  own  days  the 
mob  do,  even  in  Paris,  when  cholera  decimates  them.  A  hundred 
and  ninety  matrons  were  condennied.  After  this  holocaust  had 
been  offered  to  terror  and  folly,  it  was  thought  that  so  many 
domestic  crimes  must  arise  from  the  anger  of  the  gods ;  and  in 
order  to  appease  them,  a  dictator  was  appointed,  who,  with  all 
religious  pomp,  went  solemnly  to  drive  a  nail  into  the  wall  of  the 
temple  of  Jupiter.^ 

A  few  years  previously  (337)  Rome  had  again  afforded  one  of 
those  sad  spectacles  which  we  have  already  described.^  The  Vestal 
Minucia,  who  had  awakened  suspicion  by  an  over-attention  to  her 

1  Livy,  viii.  16;  in  335.  3  See  pp.  228,  229. 

'■^  Livy,  viii.  18. 


WAKS   WITH   SAMNITES  AND   LATINS   FROM   343  TO   312.     425 

dress,  was  accused  of  having  violated  her  vows.  She  received  an 
order  from  the  pontiffs  to  cease  the  discharge  of  her  duties,  and 
not  to  enfranchise  any  of  her  slaves,  in  order  that  they  might  be 
examined  l)y  tortm-e.  The  evidence  confirming  the  charges,  as  it 
always  did  in  these  cases,  the  unhappy  girl  was  buried  alive  near 
the  Colline  Gate.^  These  priests,  who  were  such  vigilant  guardians 
of  the  purity  of  the  worship  of  Vesta,  were  as  pitiless  as  their 
fierce  goddess. 


III.   Second  Samnite  War  (326-312). 

While  the  results  of  the  Latin  war  gave  the  Republic  a 
territory  140  miles  in  extent,  from  north-east  to  south-west,  and 
58  miles  from  east  to  west,^  a  king  of  Epirus,  Alexander  the 
Molossian,  uncle  to  Alexander  the  Great,  was  attempting  to  do  in 
the  West  what  the  son  of  Philip  accom- 
plished in  the  East.  Having  been 
invited  to  aid  the  Tarentines,  he  beat 
the  Lucanians  and  Samnites  near  Paes- 
tum,  and   consequenth-  at  the  very  door 

ALEXANDER.' 

of    Campania,    made     them    dehver     up 

to  him  three  hundred  hostages  whom  he  sent  into  Epirus,  and 
deprived  the  Bruttians  of  Terina  and  Sipontum.  After  he  had 
conquered,  he  wished  to  organize ;  and  endeavored  to  constitute 
at  Thurium  an  assembly  of  the  nations  of  Southern  Italy,  in 
the  hope  of  governing  it  as  the  kings  of  Macedonia  swayed 
the  synod  at  Corinth.*  In  the  Latin  war  the  alliance  of  the 
Samnites  had  saved  Rome ;  but  since  thei-e  was  no  longer  a 
hostile  nation  between  the  allies,  their  jealousy  re-awakened. 
Accordingly,  the  success  of  Alexander  was  hailed  with  joy  at 
Rome ;  and  as  that  prince  had  complained  of  the  piracies  of 
the  Antiates,  who,  in   spite  of   the  severe   chastisement   they   had 

'  Livy,  Tiii.  15. 

'  From  Sora  to  Antium. 

*  Laurel-crowned  head  of  Jupiter ;  on  the  reverse,  .'VAESANAPOY  TOY  NEOnTOAEMOY, 
Alexander,  son  of  Neoptolemus,  and  brother  of  Oljmpias.  Thunderbolt  and  lance-head. 
Silver  coin  of  Alexander  L,  king  of  Epirus. 

■*  Livv,  viii.  17. 


426 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


COIN    OP    PAESTUM. 


recently   received,    continued    to    sweep    the    seas,    the    opportunity 
was    seized    for    making   a   treaty    with    him    (332).^     Some    years 

later  Alexander  was  treacherously  killed 
by  a  Lucanian  (326)  ;  the  dominion  that 
he  had  established  fell  with  him ;  and 
Rome  gained  no  profit  by  the  alliance, 
save  m  indicating  to  the  Greeks  of  that 
region  whither  they  must  look  for 
help  against  the  barbarians  who  surrounded  them.  Al^out  the 
same  date  Athens,  seized  with  a  sudden  return  of  desire  for  con- 
quest, settled  somewhere  on  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic,  at  a  spot 
which  cannot  be  determined,  a  military  and  trading  colony  for  the 
protection  of  her  commerce  against  the  pirates  of  the  Etruscan 
towns  of  Atria  and  Spina.  The  decree  of  foundation,  of  which 
a   fragment    has   been    discovered,    was    worthy    of    that    city,    still 

great  in  her  decay.  "  We  desire,"  it  says, 
"that  all  who  sail  in  this  sea,  whether  Greeks 
or  barbarians,  may  find  safety  there  under  the 
protection  of  Athens."  ^  Italy  *  and  Greece, 
who  divided  the  ancient  world  between  them, 
were  entangling  their  interests  more  and  more. 
In  a  few  years  a  Spartan  comes  to  seek  his 
fortune  on  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic,  and 
Pyrrhus  renews  the  attempt  of  Alexander  the  Molossian  upon 
the  Italian  peninsula. 

Shortly  after  the  treaty  concluded  with  the  King  of  Epirus, 
the  Senate  had  secured  the  alliance  of  the  Gauls.  This  league  of 
the  Romans  with  the  barbarians  on  the  north  of  Italy,  and  with 
a  prince  who  was  the  representative,  as  it  were,  of  all  the  Greeks 
settled  in  the  soutli  of  the  peninsula,  was  a  threat  to  all  the 
Sabellian  tribes.  The  two  peoples  at  first  kept  up  an  undeclared 
war,  which  envenomed  their  hatred  without  deciding  anything.  In 
331  the  Samnites  crossed  the  Liris  and  destroyed  Fregellae.  The 
Senate  would   not  consider  it  a  casus   beJH ;  but    a    Roman    colony 

1  Polyb.,  HUl.  ii.  18. 

^  PAISTANO.  Head  of  Ceres  crowned  with  wheat;  on  the  reverse,  two  horsemen 
racing.     Silver  <lidraclima. 

°  Decree  of  329  ;  see  Bull,  de  I'Inst.  archeoL,  1836,  p.  132,  feq. 
*  Engraved  gem  from  the  Berlin  Collection. 


MERCIIAXT   VESSEL 
UNDER    SAIL.^ 


n 

H 

2! 


WARS   WITH   SAMNITES  AND   LATINS   FROM  343   TO   312.     427 

went  and  quietly  rebuilt  the  walla.  The  Samnites  threatened 
Fabratcria ;  the  Senate  declared  the  town  to  be;  und(^r  Roman 
jirotoction.  In  333  they  had  secretly  stirred  ii])  tlie  Sidiciui  ;  Rome 
subdued  this  nation,  and  colonized  Gales.  In  320  tliey  aroused 
the  Privernates ;  Vitruvius  Vaccus,  a  nolile  of  Fundi,  doubtless  at 
tlieir  instigation,  drew  Fundi  and  Formiae  into  the  movement. 
These  two  towns  carried  on  the  war  without  vigor,  and  soon 
dropped  it.  Privernum,  left  alone,  held  out  against  the  two 
consular  armies  for  many  months.  Vaccus,  who  had  taken  refuge 
there,  was  led  in  the  triumph  of  the  consuls,  and  then  beheaded, 
and  the  senators  of  the  town  were  deported  across  the  Tiber.  As 
for  the  remainder  of  the  inhabitants,  their  fate  was  discussed  in 
the  Senate.  "Will  you  be  faithful?"  asked  the  consul  of  their 
deputies.  "  Yes,"  they  replied,  "  if  your  conditions  are  good ; 
otherwise  the  peace  will  not  last  long."  The  Senate  were  desirous 
of  gaining  over  these  men,  so  provid  in  defeat ;  Privernum  was 
allowed  the  rights  of  the  city  without  the  suffrage,  but  its  walls 
were  destroyed.^ 

Thus  the  Samnites  had  failed  at  Fregellae,  Fabrateria,  Gales, 
and  Privernum.  As  far  as  the  Vulturnus  all  was  now  Roman ; 
they  turned  to  Gampania  to  find  enemies  to  the  Republic. 

On  the  false  report  that  the  plague  was  desolating  the  city, 
and  that  war  had  been  declared  against  the  Samnites,  the  Greeks 
of  Palaeopolis^  had  attacked  the  Romans  scattered  through  Gam- 
pania. When  the  heralds  came  to  demand  justice,  they  only  met 
with  challenge  and  insult,  and  four  thousand  Samnites  entered  into 
the  place.  To  the  complaints  of  the  Romans  about  this  violation 
of  treaties,  the  Samnites  replied  by  a  demand  for  the  evacuation  of 
Fregellae  ;  the  deputies  offered  to  submit  the  affair  to  the  decision 
of  an  arbitrator.  "  Let  the  sword  decide  it,"  said  the  chiefs ;  "  we 
appoint  a  meeting  with  you  in  Gampania."  ^ 

An  imposing  religious  ceremony  preceded  the  hostilities.  The 
gods  were  taken  from  the  inmost  sanctuaries  where  their  statues 
were    set    up,    were    laid    on     couches    covered    with     sumptuous 

'  The  Privernates  were  comprised  in  the  Ufentine  tribe,  formed  in  .'ilS,  at  the  same  time 
as  the  Falerian  tribe.     Test.,  s.  v.  Ufenlina ;  Livy,  ix.  20  ;  Diod.,  xix.  10  ;  Val.  Max.,  VI.  ii.  1. 

-  Palaeopolis,  or  the  Old  Town,  a  colony  of  Cumao,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Neapolis 
(Naples),  the  New  Town. 

'  Livy,  viii.  23. 


428     ■  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

tapestry,  and  invited  to  a  feast  served  by  the  priests,  the  lecti- 
sternitcm.  The  temples  were  thrown  open,  the  roads  were  Ijlocked 
with  the  faithful,  who  came  to  behold  with  devotion  the  god  whom 
they  confounded  with  his  image.  As  no  inilucky  omen  stopped  the 
accomplishment  of  these  rites,  the  divine  guests  of  Rome  seemed 
to  have  accepted  her  offering  and  promised  their  aid. 

The  war  dallied,  however,  in  the  first  year  (326),  although  the 
Senate  had  secured  the  support  of  the  Lucanians  and  Apulians,  who 
were  to  take  the  Samnites  in  the  rear.  The  Lucanians,  being 
persuaded  by  the  Tarentines,  already  jealous  of  the  Roman  power, 
changed  sides  almost  immediately ;  but  the  industrious  and  com- 
mercial population  of  Apulia  had  too  much  to  fear  from  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Samnites  not  to  remain  in  alliance  with 
Rome,  at  least  so  long  as  fortune  favored  her.  The  defection  of 
the  Lucanians  was,  moreover,  compensated  by  the  capture  of 
Palaeopolis  and  the  alliance  with  Naples,  —  that  is  to  say,  with  all 
the  Campanian  Greeks. 

The  blockade  of  Palaeopolis  had  been  the  occasion  of  an 
important  innovation.  Li  order  to  continue  the  operations  against 
that  town,  Publilius  Philo  had  been  continued  in  his  command 
under  the  title  of  pro-consul}  By  paying  the  same  soldiers,  the 
Senate  were  able  to  retain  them  under  the  standards  so  long  as 
public  necessity  required  it ;  l^y  the  pro-consulship,  it  could  leave 
at  their  head  the  leaders  who  had  gained  its  confidence  and  theirs. 
The  annual  election  of  the  magistrates  guaranteed  liberty,  but 
endangered  empire.  The  institution  of  the  pro-consulship,  without 
affecting  this  great  principle  of  Roman  government,  destroyed  the 
danger  of  it.  The  Genucian  law  was  thus  happily  evaded.^  It  is 
almost  always  pro-consuls  who  finish  the  wars,  more  especially 
outside  Italy,  in  countries  whose  resources  and  dispositions  must 
be  leisurely  studied  by  the  generals,  where  negotiations  and  fight- 
ing must  be  carried  on  at  the  same  time.  Fabius  RuUianus, 
Scipio,  Flamininus,  Sulla,  LucuUus,  Pompey,  and  Caesar  had  only 
this  title  when  they  gained  their  most  brilliant  victories. 

The  treaty  with  the  Campanian  Greeks  had  driven  the 
Samnites    out    of    Campania;    and    a    mountain    warfare,    that    is, 

'  [The  Latin  form  is  not  pr(xoiisul,  hwt  proconsule,  according  to  the  best  MSS. — JBrf.J 
2  See  p.  390. 


WARS  WITH    SAMNITES   AND    LATINS    KUOM    .•;i;5   TO   312.     429 

snrlden  attacks,  obscure  but  bloody  fights,  and  heroic  efforts 
productive  of  no  resuhs,  replaced  the  great  warfare  of  the  plains. 
The  Romans  there  brought  their  tactics,  arms,  and  discipline  to 
perfection.  They  issued  from  this  struggle  the  best  soldiers  in  the 
world.  Roman  vanity  is  accnised  of  having  multiplied  the  victories 
of  the  legions ;  in  one  campaign  Livy  reckons  fifty-three  thousand 
killed,  and  thirty-one  thousand  prisoners !  There  is  an  evident 
exaggeration  in  these  figures ;  but  it  is  in  the  nature  of  this  kind 
of  war  to  be  interminable.  Though  the  Samnites  had  l)ut  a 
small  number  of  walled  towns,  every  rock  was  a  stronghold  for 
them.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  scarcely  possible  that  their 
l)ands,  formed  of  brave  but  ill-disciplined  volunteers,  should  not 
be  beaten  in  almost  every  encounter  by  troops  wliose  organization 
was  superior  to  anything  the  ancient  world  had  3'et  known.  The 
two  armies  resembled  the  two  peoples :  the  one  a  fragile  con- 
federation, a  precarious  union  of  tribes  miaccustomed  to  counsel 
and  action  in  common ;  the  other,  a  mass  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  fighting  men,  animated  with  the  same  spirit,  obeying 
the  same  influence :  the  latter,  an  immense  force  concentrated  in 
a  single  hand,  in  the  service  of  a  single  interest ;  the  former,  an 
indomitable,   but    divided,    courage,    pursuing    different    aims. 

Several  obscure  towns  captured  from  the  Samnites  on  the 
banks  of  the  Vulturnus,  tlie  pillaging  of  a  few  valleys,  the  rising 
and  defeat  of  the  Vestinians, — these  are  the  only  events  known 
in  the  first  years  of  the  war.  But  the  dryness  of  the  annals  is 
suddenly  broken,  in  324,  by  the  brilliant  story  of  the  quarrel  of 
the  dictator,  Papirius,  with  Fabius  RuUianus  his  chief  of  cavalry. 
The  dictator,  not  having  obtained  sufficient  auguries  at  the  camp, 
had  gone  to  Rome  to  seek  more  favorable  ones.  He  had  for- 
bidden Fabius  to  fight  during  his  absence,  since  the  sacred  cliick- 
ens  did  not  promise  victory.  But  a  good  opportunity  having 
occuri'ed,  Fabius  took  advantage  of  it,  and  conquered  the  Samnites. 
At  the  news  of  this  infraction  of  discipline  and  defiance  of  the 
gods,  Papirius  left  Rome,  hastened  to  the  camp,  and  called  the 
chief  of  cavalry  before  his  tribunal.  "  I  would  fain  know  of 
tliee,  Q.  Fabius,  since  the  dictatorship  is  the  supreme  power 
which  both  the  consuls,  who  are  endued  with  I'oyal  authority, 
and  the  praetors,  who  are  created  under  the  same   auspices  as  the 


430      ■  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

consuls,  obey,  —  I  would  fain  know  of  thee  if  thou  thinkest  it  right 
or  not  that  a  chief  of  cavalry  should  submit  to  its  orders  ?  I 
ask  thee,  moreover,  if,  convinced  as  I  was  of  the  uncertainty  of 
the  auspices,  I  ought  to  have  left  to  chance  the  safety  of  the  state 
in  despite  of  our  holy  ceremonies,  or  renewed  the  auspices,  in 
order  to  do  nothing  without  a  clear  knowledge  that  the  gods  were 
on  our  side  ?  I  ask  thee,  finally,  if,  when  a  religious  scruple  hin- 
ders the  dictator  from  acting,  the  chief  of  cavalry  could  have  any 
excuse  for  doing  so  ?  Answer ;  but  answer  only  this,  and  not  a 
word  beyond."  Fabius  would  have  spoken  of  liis  victory.  Papirius 
interrupted  him,  and  called  the  lictor :  "  Prepare  the  rods  and  the 
axe ! "  said  he.  At  these  words  murnnirs  were  heard,  and  a 
sedition  was  on  the  point  of  breaking  out  among  the  legions. 
Happily  night  came  on,  and  the  execution  was,  according  to 
custom,  deferred  to  the  morrow.  In  the  interval  Fabius  escaped 
from  the  camp,  and  arrived  at  Rome,  where,  by  virtue  of  his 
office,  he  called  together  the  Senate.  His  father,  who  had  been 
dictator  and  thrice  consul,  began  to  inveigh  against  the  violence 
and  injustice  of  Papirius,  when  the  noise  of  the  lictors  was  heard 
as  they  drove  aside  the  crowd,  and  the  dictator  appeared.  In  vain 
the  senators  tried  to  appease  his  wrath ;  he  ordered  the  culprit 
to  be  seized.  The  elder  Fabius  then  descended  to  the  comitium, 
whither  the  people  had  flocked,  and  appealed  to  the  tribunes. 
"  Rods  and  axes,"  he  cried,  "  for  a  victor !  What  punishment 
would  he  then  have  reserved  for  my  son  if  the  army  had 
perished  ?  Is  it  ^jossijjle  that  he  through  whom  the  town  is  now 
full  of  joy,  for  whom  the  temples  are  now  open  and  thanksgivings 
are  being  returned  to  the  gods,  —  is  it  possible  that  this  man  should 
be  stripped  of  his  raiment  and  lacerated  by  the  rods  under  the 
eyes  of  the  Roman  people,  in  view  of  the  Capitol,  of  its  gods, 
whom  in  two  combats  he  invoked,  and  not  in  vain?"  The 
senators,  the  tribunes,  the  people  themselves  were  for  the  glorious 
culprit ;  Papirius  remained  inflexible.  He  called  to  mind  the 
sanctity  of  the  auspices  and  the  majesty  of  the  imperium,  which 
must  be  respected ;  he  showed  the  consequences  of  an  act  of  dis- 
obedience left  unpunished.  "  The  discipline  of  the  family,  the 
city,  and  the  camp  are  all  closely  connected,"  said  he ;  "  will  you, 
tribunes  of   the   people,    be    responsible    to    posterity  for    the    evils 


WARS   WITH    SAMNITES  AND   LATINS   FROM   M3  TO   312.    431 

which  will  follow  any  infringement  of  the  rules  of  our  ancestors  ? 
Then  devote  yourselves  to  lasting  reproach  to  redeem  the  fault 
of  Fabius."  The  tribunes,  troubled  and  uneasy,  kept  silence  ; 
but  the  whole  people  betook  themselves  to  supplication ;  the  aged 
Fabius  and  his  son  fell  at  the  dictator's  feet.  "  It  is  well," 
said  Papirius  ;  "  military  discipline  and  the  majesty  of  command, 
which  to-day  seemed  so  near  perishing,  have  triumphed.  Fabius 
is  not  absolved  from  his  fault ;  he  owes  his  pardon  to  the  Roman 
people,  to  the  tril)uiiitian  power  which  has  asked  for  mercy  and 
not  justice."  The  pardon  was  not,  however,  complete.  Papirius 
appointed  another  chief  of  cavalry,  and  forljade  Fabius,  whom  he 
could  not  depose,  to  exercise  any  magisterial  act.^ 

A  fine  story  and  a  splendid  scene !  Pai^irius,  contending  alone, 
in  the  name  of  the  law,  against  the  Senate,  the  tribunes,  and  the 
people  itself,  well  represents  that  Roman  firmness  which  yielded 
neither  to  nature,  nor  fortune,  nor  the  efforts  of  men.  Such  a 
rock  was  necessary  to  Ijear  the  empire  of  the  world.  But  to 
gain  that  empire  there  was  needed,  too,  the  respect  for  social 
discipline  and  the  profound  sense  of  responsibility,  which  is  in- 
cumbent in  public  life  upon  one  and  all.  This  is  why  the  old 
story  is  always  good  to  read. 

On  his  return  to  the  camp  Papirius  beat  the  Samnites,  who 
sued  for  peace  (.32.3).  Only  a  truce  was  concluded,  which  was  as 
necessary  to  the  Romans  as  to  their  enemies.  Disquieting  symp- 
toms seemed  to  annoimee  that  a  renewal  of  the  Latin  war  was 
approaching.  Tuscuhxm,  one  of  the  oldest  allies  of  Rome,  wavered 
in  its  fidelity ;  Velitrae  and  Privernum  claimed  the  recovery  of 
their  independence.  The  wisdom  of  the  Senate  averted  the  storm. 
Instead  of  employing  force,  they  disarmed  the  rebel  cities  by 
conceding  them  the  full  I'ights  of  citizenship.  And  the  man  who 
in  323  was  dictator  of  Tusculum,  is  seen,  a  few  months  later, 
seated  in  the  Senate  as  consul  of  the  Roman  people. 

In  this  same  year  Alexander  died  at  Babylon.  Several  Italian 
nations  had  sent  ambassadors  to  him  there. 

The  truce  had  not  expired  before  the  Samnites  took  up  arms 
again,  encouraged  by  the  defection  of  a  part  of  the  Apulians. 
Fabius  broke  up  this  coalition  by  a  victory,  and  by  the  recapture 

'  Livv,  viii.  30-35. 


432 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


of  Luceria  raised  Roman  influence  in  Apulia.  The  Samnites  were 
thus  driven  back  botli  east  and  west  into  their  mountains,  and  not 
a  single  ally,  even  in  the  Marsic  confederation,  declared  for  them. 
Once  more  they  asked  for  peace ;  as  they  could  not  deliver  up 
Brunius  Papius,  the  author  of  the  last  outbreak,  alive  —  since  he 
had  killed  himself  —  they  sent  his  body  to  Rome.  A  refusal  re- 
awakened their  energy.  They  put  at  their  head  C.  Pontius  of 
Telesia,    the    son  of    the    sage  Herennius,   whom    Cicero   considered 


VALLEY  OF  THE  CAUDINE  FORKS,  NEAR  CASEUTA  ^ 


to  have  been  the  friend  of  Archytas  and  Plato.  The  two  consular 
armies  were  in  Campania.  Pontius  had  conveyed  to  them  the 
false  mtelligence  that  Luceria,  hard  pressed  by  the  whole  Samnite 
army,  was  aljout  to  open  its  gates  if  succor  were  not  promptly  sent 

'  Taken  from  the  BililiotJieque  nationnle.  But  tliere  is  much  unc'ertainty  as  to  the  true 
position  of  the  Furculae  Caudinae.  The  most  rehable  opinion  ]iLaces  the  valley  between 
Santa  Agata  and  Moirano,  on  the  road  to  Beneventum  ;  a  little  river,  the  Isclero,  runs 
through  it.  (Craven,  Tnur  throufih  the  SoutJwrn  Prorhices  of  the  Kinfjdom  of  Kn/iles,  pp. 
12-20.)  As  to  the  lost  town  of  Caudium,  it  was  situated,  according  to  the  Roman  itineraries, 
on  the  Appian  Way,  21  miles  from  Capua,  and  11  from  Beneventum. 


WAKS   AVITIL    SAMNITES   AND   LATINS   FROM   343   TO   312.    433 

to  it.  In  their  zeal  the  consuls  forgot  prudence,  and  taking  the 
shortest  way,  entered  the  narrow  valley  of  Caudium.  Suddenly  the 
enemy  appeared,  closing  the  outlets,  and  from  tlie  high  rocks  wliich 
commanded  the  naiTow  pass,  threatened  the  four  legions  with  in- 
evitable destruction.  A  desperate  struggle  ensued ;  it  doubtless 
lasted  several  days,  at  the  end  of  which,  as  provisions  failed,  the 
Komans  were  forced  to  yield.^  "  Kill  them  all,"  said  Herennius, 
the  aged  father  of  the  Samnite  general,  "  if  you  desire  war ;  or 
send  them  back  free,  with  their  arms,  if  you  prefer  a  glorious 
peace."  Pontius  wished  to  enjoy  his  triumph.  He  sent  them  back 
free,  but  dishonored,  with  shame  on  their  foreheads  and  an  im- 
placable hatred  in  their  hearts.  All  who  remained  of  forty  thoiisand 
Romans  had  passed  under  the  yoke,  at  their  head  the  two  consuls, 
Postumius  and  Veturius,  four  legates,  two  quaestors,  and  twelve  legion- 
ary triliunes.  Six  hundred  knights,  who  were  delivered  up  as  hos- 
tages, answered  for  the  peace  sworn  by  the  leaders  of  the  army  (321). 
For  the  national  pride  this  humiliation  was  worse  than  the  dis- 
aster. Thei'e  was  universal  mourning  in  the  city.  Twice  a  dicta- 
tor was  appointed,  and  twice  did  sinister  omens  compel  the  annulling 
of  the  election.  At  length  Valerius  Corvus,  as  interrex,  raised 
to  the  consulship  two  of  the  greatest  citizens  of  the  Republic,  — 
Papirius  and  the  plebeian  Publilius  Philo.  When  the  treaty  was 
discussed  in  the  Senate,  Postumius  rose  and  said :  "  The  Roman 
people  cannot  be  bound  by  a  treaty  concluded  without  its  appro- 
bation ;  but,  in  order  to  free  the  public  faith,  it  is  necessary  to 
give  up  to  the  Samnites  those  who  swore  peace."  As  state  interest 
silenced  all  scruples,  the  Senate  seemed  to  think  that  the  blood  of 
these  voluntary  victims  would  redeem  the  perjury,  even  with  the 
gods ;  and  the  consuls,  quaestors,  and  tribunes,  chained  like  slaves, 
were  led  by  the  heralds  to  the  Samnite  army.^  When  thev  stood 
in  the  presence  of  Pontius,  "  I  am  a  Samnite  now,"  said  Postumius ; 
then,  striking  the  knee  of  the  herald,  he  cried :  "  I  violate  the  sacred 

^  Livj-  (Lx.  2-6)  does  not  mention  any  battle,  but  Cicero  {de  Sen.  12,  and  de  Offir.  iii.  30) 
knew  of  it ;  and  it  was  perhaps  after  the  battle  that  the  lloman  army  allowed  itself  to  be 
entrapped  in  the  Caudine  Forks. 

^  Livy  (ix.  8-9)  and  Cicero  (de  Offic.  iii.  20)  justify  the  rupture  of  the  treaty  which  had 
been  concluded,  injussu  popxdi  senatusque ;  and  they  are  right.  A  general  who,  by  his  own 
fault,  has  brought  himself  into  danger,  must  make  his  escape  at  his  own  risk  ;  he  may 
stipulate  by  a  capitulation  for  his  army,  but  not  by  a  treaty  for  his  Government. 

VOL.  I.  28 


434     ■  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

character  of  an  ambassador ;  let  the  Romans  avenge  this  insult ; 
they  have  now  a  just  motive  for  war."  "  Is  it  permitted  thus  to 
mock  the  gods  ? "  cried  the  Samnite  general  in  indignation  ;  "  take 
your  consuls  back  again,  and  let  the  Senate  keep  the  sworn  peace, 
or  let  them  send  their  legions  back  to  the  Caudine  Forks." 

Fortune  rewarded  injustice.  The  Samnites,  it  is  true,  surprised 
Fregellae  and  massacred  its  defenders,  in  spite  of  their  capitulation, 
and  they  roused  Luceria ;  but  the  Senate,  l^oldly  resuming  the 
offensive,  sent  the  two  consuls  into  Apulia,  which  they  did  not 
again  leave  till  they  had  given  these  faithless  allies  a  bloody 
lesson.  Publilius,  at  the  head  of  the  legions  of  Caudium,  beat  an 
army  in  Samnium,  and  set  out  for  Apulia  to  rejoin  Papirius,  who 
had  haughtily  repulsed  the  intervention  of  the  Tarentines,  dispersed 
the  enemy  by  an  impetuous  attack,  and  recaptured  Luceria.^  He 
had  there  found  the  six  hundred  hostages,  the  arms  and  standards 
lost  at  Caudium,  and  had  passed  under  the  yoke  seven  thousand 
Sanmite  prisoners,  with  their  chief,  the  noble,  but  imprudent 
Pontius  Herennius  (320). 

The  successes  of  this  campaign  are  a  too  brilliant  reparation 
of  the  disasters  of  the  preceding  year  not  to  lead  us  to  suspect 
the  fidelity  of  the  annals.  As  forty  years  later  the  Romans 
pretend  to  have  wiped  out  the  disgrace  of  the  AUia,  so  they 
would  fain  have  wiped  out,  in  320,  that  of  the  Caudine  Forks ; 
and,  in  order  that  this  revenge  might  not  be  disputed,  they 
showed  how  Apulia  immediately  entered  into  alliance  with  them 
again,  and  how  the  Samnites  were  obliged,  in  the  year  318,  to 
ask  for  a  truce  of  two  years.  These  hasty  successes  are  doulitful ; 
and  this  doubt  is  authorized  l)y  the  events  which  followed. 

The  Senate  had  just  sent  a  prefect  to  Capua  to  dispense 
justice  there,  —  in  reality  to  supervise  and  restrain  those  restless 
spirits.  This  was  to  deprive  the  Campanians  of  a  right  allowed 
to  the  most  obscure  of  the  vanquished,  and  provoke  a  discontent 
of  which  the  Samnites  took  advantage.^  In  rapid  succession  Rome 
heard  of  the  capture  and  destruction  of  Plistia,  that  Fregellae 
itself  had  been  occupied,  the  colonists  of  Sora  massacred,  and 
Saticula,  situated  a  few  leagues  from  Capua,  swept  into  the  revolt. 

^  Diodorus  (xx.  72)  says  that  Luceria  was  recoiKjuered  in  314. 

^  Nuceria,  on  the  Sarnus,  to  the  southeast  of  Caj)ua,  liad  just  revolted.     (Died.,  .xix.  65.)- 


WAKS  WITH   SAMNITES  AND   LATINS   FROM   343  TO  311;.     435 

A  dictator  was  at  once  sent  against  Saticula,  which  was  strictly 
invested  and  taken,  after  a  vain  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  new 
allies  to  break  through  the  Roman  lines.  But  the  Samnites, 
calling  to  arms  every  man  of  an  age  to  fight,  forced  the  dicta- 
tor to  retire  upon  the  defiles  of  Lautulae,  between  Terracina 
and  Fundi.  Whilst  they  followed  Fabius  in  this  direction,  they 
left  Apulia  open  to  the  consuls,  who  hastened  thither  to  recap- 
ture Luceria.  Two  roads  led  from  Rome  into  Campania,  the 
upper  one  by  the  Valley  of  the  Trerus,  a  tributary  of  the  Liris  ; 
the  lower  one,  which  was  afterward  the  Appian  Way,  across  the 
Pontine  Marshes.  Fregellae,  which  the  enemy  held,  closed  the 
former  ;  by  the  second,  Fabius  received  a  niimerous  body  of  men 
from  Rome,  who,  coming  up  suddenly  in  the  middle  of  the 
action  against  the   Samnites,   secured   the  victory  for  the   Romans 

(315). 

Each  of  the  Italian  cities,  great  or  small,  had  two  factions, 
as  Rome  used  to  have,  but  as,  fortunately  for  her,  she  had  no 
longer,  —  the  party  of  the  nobles,  and  that  of  the  people.  The 
Roman  Senate,  which  held  the  direction  of  its  external  policy, 
was  naturally  led  to  seek  the  alliance  of  the  aristocratic  party. 
The  popular  party  inclined  to  the  opposite  side ;  so  that  when 
war  broke  out  between  the  two  .most  powerful  nations  in  the 
peninsula,  each  town  had  a  Roman  and  a  Samnite  faction.  Hence 
the  continual  defections  which  are  seen  in  favor  of  one  adversary 
or  the  other,  according  to  the  party  which  ruled  for  the  moment 
in  the  city. 

At  Capua,  for  instance,  the  Romans  had  granted  to  the  rich, 
privileges  which  must  necessarily  have  caused  great  irritation 
among  the  rest  of  the  population.  Accordingly,  a  conspiracy  was 
formed  there  for  calling  in  the  Samnites.  The  movement  spread 
to  tlie  towns  of  the  lower  Liris,  in  the  country  of  the  Aiu-unci ;  ^ 
but  in  Latium  no  disturbance  occurred.  The  Senate  had  time  to 
assemble  its  forces  and  to  manage  intrigues  which  opened  to  its 
legionaries  the  gates  of  Ausona,  Mmturnae,  and  Vescia,  the  in- 
habitants of  which  were  massacred.  After  this  war  the  name 
of  the  Aurimci   disappears  from  histor}.-      Ovius  and  Novius,  the 

1  Diod.,  .\Lx.  76.     Livy  is  much  less  explicit. 

^  Livy,  ix.  25  :   Nultua  modus  cacdil/usjuit,  delctaque  Ausomtm  gens. 


436 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


leaders  of  the  revolt  of  Cajuia,  killed  themselves.  Sora  and 
Fregellae  fell  into  the  hands  of  Rome  again,  and  those  of  their 
inhabitants  who  had  betrayed  the  Roman  colonists  were  taken  to 
Rome  and  there  beheaded.  It  was  a  holocaust  offered  to  the 
people ;  for  Ity  this  terrible  execution  the  Senate  declared  to  all 
men  that  the  citizen  sent  to  a  colony  might  count  on  watchful 
protection  while  he  lived,  and  an  inexorable  vengeance  if  he  were 
slain ;    and  the  ancients  loved  vengeance. 

According  to  Livy,  the  army,  after  having  recovered  Cam- 
pania, went  in  search  of  the  Samnites  not  far  frt)m  Caudium,  and 
killed  thirty  thousand  of  them,  —  a  great  slaughter,  placed  too 
near  the  Caudine  Forks  for  us  not  to  suspect  the  historian,  or 
the  chroniclers  copied  by  liini,  of  having  invented  a  double 
expiation  of  the  insult  there  done  to  Roman  military  honor 
(314).  The  legions,  however,  acting  on  a  plan  wisely  combined 
and  perseveringly  followed  out,  succeeded  in  once  more  driving  the 
Samnites  mto  the  Apennines,  and  there  enclosing  them,  east  and 
west,   with   a   line    of   fortresses.       Suessa   Aurunca,    Interamna   on 

the  Liris,  Casinum,  and  Luceria  in  Apulia, 
received  Roman  colonies.  In  order  to  keep 
watch  over  the  Tarentine  corsairs,  who  swept 
the  Tyrrhenian  Sea,  the  Senate  also  sent  one 
to  the  Island  of  Pontia.  This  measure  was 
connected  with  the  recent  creation  of  a 
navy  and  the  nomination  of  two  maritime 
prefects.^ 

In  the  midst  of  these  accounts  of  war 
Livy  places  a  grotesque  incident,  "  little 
worthy  of  recital,"  says  he,  "  if  it  did  not 
refer  to  religion."  It  is,  in  fact,  a  detail 
which  is  not  devoid  of  interest  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  manners  of  so  grave  and  yet 
so  frivolous  a  nation.  Religious  festivals, 
sacrifices,  and  even  the  observation  of  heavenly  signs  and  funeral 
ceremonies,     required     the     presence     of     flute-players,     who     had 


FLUTE-PL  AYEU.2 


1  Dnummri  navales.     (Livy,  ix.  30.) 

2  Bronze  figurine  from  the  National  Collection  of  France,   No.   3,064  of  Chabouillet's 
catalogue. 


WARS  WITH    SAMNITES  AND   LATINS   FEOM   343  TO   312.     437 

originally  been  l)i-ouglit  from  Etrnria,  and  who  formed  a  semi- 
religious  corporation.  The  censors  having  forbidden  them  the; 
sacred  banquets  of  the  temple  of  Jupiter,  to  which  thciy  liad 
been  hitherto  admitted,  they  all  retired  in  anger  to  Tibur.  Tiie 
Senate,  much  alarmed  at  the  interruption  of  a  necessary  rite, 
ordered  them  ti)  return  ;  but  they  refused  to  re-enter  Rome ;  and 
in  order  to  make  them  return  to  their  religious  duties,  it  was 
necessary  to  adopt  a  stratagem.  One  feast-day,  under  pretence  of 
giving,  by  the  aid  of  music,  more  solemnity  to  the  festivities,  the 
wealthy  of  Tibur  invited  them,  and  made  them  drink  until  they 
became  very  drunken.  They  were  then  placed  on  chariots  and 
carried  back  to  Rome,  where  they  were  left  in  the  middle  of 
the  Forum.  When  they  awoke  in  the  morning  all  the  people 
were  gathered  round  them.  The  privilege  they  had  enjoyed  was 
restored  ;  and  to  seal  the  reconciliation,  a  feast  of  three  days  was 
instituted,  —  a  kind  of  masquerade,  of  which  they  were  the  heroes, 
and  which  was  celebrated  with  songs,  dances,  and  mad  gayety.' 

'  Livy,  ix.  30;  Ovid,  Fast.  vi.  GSl,  seq. 

-  In  the  camp  it  was  usual  to  consult  omens  taken  from  the  appetite  of  birds,  generally 
chickens.  The  templuni,  or  enclosed  space  for  obser\ing  the  signs,  was  traced  on  the  ground; 
the  puUarius  brought  thither  the  cage  and  opened  it,  and  then  gave  the  fowls  food.  When 
they  flew  eagerly  ujjon  the  grain,  especially  when  they  let  some  of  it  fall  from  their  beaks,  the 
omen  was  fortunate.  This  could  be  easily  managed  by  making  the  fowls  fast,  or  by  giving 
them  a  friable  paste.  And  yet,  though  they  thus  tricked  Providence,  the  Romans,  and  even 
I'apirius  Cursor,  as  we  have  just  seen  on  p.  429,  believed  none  the  less  in  the  omen 
obtained. 


kmrn^vM^ 


THE    SACRED    CmCKEN.S.^ 


CHAPTER   XV. 

COALITION  OF  THE  SAMNITES,  ETRUSCANS,  AND  SENONES  (311-280). 

I.    Third  Samnite  War  (311-303). 

FOR  sixteen  years  the  Samnites  fought  alone ;  but  at  last  the 
other  nations  began  to  stir.  The  forty  years'  truce  with  the 
Tarquinians  was  drawing  to  an  end,  and  the  Etruscan  cities, 
which  no  longer  heard  the  Gallic  bands  thundering  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Apennines,  saw  with  dread  the  fortune  of  Rome  in- 
creasing with  every  campaign.  Samnite  emissaries  excited  them, 
and  the  ancient  league  of  the  lucumonies  was  again  formed. 
While  the  legions  were  detained  in  Samnium  at  the  siege  of 
Bovianum,  fifty  or  sixty  thousand  Etruscans  came  and  surrounded 
Sutrium,  the  fortress  which  protected  the  a^^proaches  to  Rome 
from  the  north.  If  this  place  were  carried,  it  was  but  a  few 
hours'  march  to  the  foot  of  the  Janiculum.  Since  the  battle  of 
the  Allia  the  Senate  always  kept  two  legions  in  the  city.  This 
reserve  attempted  to  raise  the  blockade  of  Sutriuiu ;  an  indecisive 
battle  kept  the  enemy  in  check  until  the  arrival  of  remforcements 
led  by  Fabius,  the  hero  of  this  war.  The  capture  of  Bovianum 
rendered  the  other  consular  army  available,  and  the  Senate  was 
desirous  of  .sending  that  also  to  the  besieged  town.  But  the 
Samnites  broke  into  Apulia ;  it  was  necessary  to  follow  them. 
Fabius  was  thus  left  alone.  The  Etruscan  lines  were  too  strong 
to  be  carried,  and  they  declined  to  be  drawn  from  them.  Fabius 
left  them  there,  warned  the  Senate  to  protect  Rome  with  a  re- 
serve army,  and  then,  without  awaiting  the  chance  of  an  order 
that  might  upset  his  bold  plan,  he  crossed  the  Ciminian 
forest,  which  his  brother  had  explored  in  the  disguise  of  a 
Tuscan  shepherd,  penetrated  the  rich  lands  of  Central  Etruria, 
passing  near  Castel  d'  Asso  and  Norchia,  —  now  cities  of  the  dead, 


COALITION   OF   THE   SAMKITES,    ETC.,    FfiOM   311   TO   280.     439 

but  then  lloui-ishing  towns  —  and  slow  sixty  thousand  Umbrians  or 
Etruscans  near  Perugia.  Three  of  the  most  powerful  cities,  Perugia, 
Cortona,  and  Arretium,  asked  a  truce  of  thirty  years.  Sutriuni  was 
saved,  the  confederacy  dissolved/  and  the  massacre  of  the  gens  Fabia 
on  the  banlvs  of  tlie  Cremera,   in    47'.)  B.C.,  was  at  last  avenged. 

Meanwhile  Marcus  Rutilus,  wlio  had  been  sent  against  the 
Samnitcs,  had  almost  fallen  into  another  Caudine  Forks  :  he  had 
only  escaped  from  the  field  of  battle  by  a  partial  defeat ;  and 
Samnium  was  meditating  an  heroic  effort.  War  was  ardently 
advocated  all  tln-ough  the  mountains ;  the  bravest  were  called 
upon  to  take  the  oath  of  the  holy  law.  The  Senate  had  recourse 
to  the  man  who  had  repaired  the  disaster  of  Caudium,  the  aged 
Papirius.^  Age  had  weighed  down  his  body,  bowed  his  lofty 
statifi-e,  and  chilled  his  strength ;  he  was  no  longer  the  Roman 
Achilles,  but  he  was  still  one  of  the  first  generals  in  the  Republic. 
The  appointment  of  a  dictator  belonged  to  Fabius,  and  the  consul 
had  not  forgotten  the  resentment  of  the  former  chief  of  cavalry. 
He  hesitated  a  whole  day ;  Ixit  patriotism  at  length  prevailed,  and 
at  midnight,  far  from  all  profane  eyes  and  ears,  he  named  Papirius. 
Junius  Bubulcus,  the  conqueror  of  Bovianum,  Valerius  Corvus,  and 
a  Decius  were  his  lieutenants.  The  Samnite  army  was  ready. 
Numbers  of  warriors  had  sworn  before  the  altars,  amid  imposing 
ceremonies,  the  solemn  oath  to  conquer  or  die ;  and  wearing  their 
most  splendid  armor,  some,  bright-colored  cloaks  and  golden  shields, 
others,  white  tunics  and  silver  shields,  all  with  their  helmets 
crested  with  brilliant  plumes,  they  marched  to  battle,  adorned 
for  the  sacrifice  as  if  for  a  triumph.  They  fell ;  and  when 
Papirius  went  up  to  the  Capitol,  long  trams  of  chariots  passed 
along  the  triumphal  way  loaded  with  the  arms  of  the  Samnite 
devoti.  The ,  shops  of  the  Forum  were  decorated  with  them,  and 
tlie  Campanian  allies  carried  some  of  them  back  to  their  towns 
as  glorious  trophies  (309). 

*  Diod.,  XX.  3.').  According  to  Livv,  the  battle  took  place  near  Sutrium,  on  the  return  of 
the  legions  from  Etruria.  He  strangely  exaggerates  the  terror  inspired  by  the  Ciminian 
forest,  whicli  was  dreaded  by  merchants,  as  are  all  marches,  like  the  Scottish  border,  but 
which  an  arnn-  had  already  traversed  in  a  war  against  the  Vulsinii,  in  390.  Tarquinii  itself 
is  situated  north  of  the  southwest  portion  of  the  Ciyninius  saltus,  now  Monte  di  Viterbo. 

^  The  Romans  had  named  him  Cursor,  like  Achilles,  and  would  have  opposed  him  to 
Alexander,  says  Livy,  had  that  prince  turned  his  arms  westward. 


440 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


The  fears  of  the  Senate  were  not  yet  dissipated ;  Papirius 
retained  the  dictatorship  all  that  year,  and  Fabins  remained  as 
proconsul  at  the  head  of  the  legions  in  Etruria ;  there  were  no 
consular  elections. 

Between  the  Tiber  and  the  Ciminian  forest  was  a  lake, 
which    Pliny    the    younger    describes     with    childish    satisfaction,' 


ETKUSCAN    WARRIOR    (sTANDARD-BEAEEB).' 


SAMNITE    WARKIOR.^ 


and  which  is  now  only  a  pool  of  sulphurous  water,  the  Jaglietto 
di  Bassano,  formerly  the  lacus  Vadvmonius,  famous  for  having  twice 
seen  the  fortune  of  Etruria  fail  upon  its  shores.  The  reason  is 
that  the  defile,  scarce  a  mile  wide,  which  extends  from  the  lake 
to  the  spurs  of  the  Cimino,  is  the  easiest  passage  that  lies  open 
to  an  army  desirous  of  going  from  Rome  to  the  upper  valley  of 
the  Tiber.*      The  Etruscans  had  hastened  thither  for  a  last  effort. 


*  Eplst.  viii.  20  ;  of.  Dennis,  Eiruria,  i.  167. 
-  From  a  vase  in  the  Campana  Collection. 

^  jittas  of  the  Bull,  de  I' Inst.  archeoL,  vol.  viii.  pi.  21. 

*  The  Mons  Ciminius,  which  in  ancient  times  was  covered  with  a  thick  forest,  is  now 
quite  bare,  which  changes  the  aspect  of  the  place. 


COALITION   0¥   THE    SAMNITES,    ETC.,  FROM   311    TO   280.     441 


They  had  displayed  every  religious  pomp,  and  deelannl  the  sacred 
law  which  devoted  to  the  infernal  gods  all  who  fled  ;  each  soldier 
liad  chosen  a  companion  in  arms,  at  whose  side  he  must  fight,  and 
conquer  or  fall.  The  shock  was  terrible.  Two  of  the  Roman 
lines  were  broken  ;  the  third,  in  which  were  the  iriarii,  main- 
tained  the  combat ;  and  the  horsemen,  having  dismounted,  decided 


0     O     0    c    o    o   c 


S.4MNITE   WARRIOR.l 


S.'VMNITE    WAKUIOR.l 


the   victory.       "  The    strength    of    the    nation,"    says    Livy,^    "  was 
destro3'ed  in  this  battle." 

The  Etruscans  being  defeated  at  Lake  Vadimon  and  again 
conquered  near  Perugia,  which  had  revolted,  and  this  place  being 
occupied  by  a  Roman  garrison,  the  other  cities  were  compelled  to 
sue  for  peace,  and  Etruria  was  finally  subdued.  Such  were  the 
services  of  Fabius  in  this  year.^     When  Decius  entered  the  country 

'  From  a  vase  in  the  Campana  Collection. 
-  ix.  39  :  caesurn  in  acie  quod  roboris  fuit. 

^  Diodorus  does  not  mention  all  these  victories  of  Fabius,  which  were  family  trailitions 
embellished  by  imagination  and  vanity. 


442    •  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

on  the   return  of  spring,   he  found  nothing  but  people  anxious  to 
negotiate. 

Fabius    had    gone    to    carry   his    fortune,    that    is,    his    renown 
and  perseverance,   into    Samnium.      The  Marsic    confederation   had 


SAMNITK   HOBSEMAN    (AFTER    A    VASE    IN   THE    CAMPANA    COLLECTION). 

furnished  the  Samnites  with  numerous  vohmteers,  but  it  had  not 
openly  declared  for  them.  As  in  the  early  days  of  Rome,  her 
enemies  were  preparing  victories  for  her  by  their  want  of  union. 
When  the  Samnites  were  enfeebled  and  the  Etruscans  overwhelmed, 
the  Marsians  and  Pelignians  saw  that  their  cause  was  that  of  all 
Italy.      But    it    was    too    late.       Fabius    overcame    them,    subdued 


COALITION   OF  THE   SAMNITES,   ETC.,   FROM  311   TO   280      443 


Nuoeria,  which  had  revolted  seven  years  before,  and,  learning 
that  his  colleague  was  retreating  before  a  large  body  of  Uinbrians, 
lie  went  to  his  aid,  dispersed  the  Umbrian  army,  and  receivcnl  the 
submission  of  their  towns  (308).  A  fresh  pro-consulship  gave 
him  an  opportunity  for  fresh  victories.  He  surrounded  a  Samnite 
army  near  Allifae,  and  obliged  it  to  surrender  before  the  eyes  of 
the  Tarentme  ambassadors,  who,  deluded  by  their  pride,  wished  to 
take  upon  themselves  the   office  of  mediators   (308). 

Among  the  prisoners  were  some  Aequians  and  Hemicans.^ 
An  inquiry  ordered  by  the  Senate  drove  the  latter  to  arms. 
Having  met  in  the  great  circus  of  Anagni,  they  resolved  to 
support  their  brothers  of  the  mountains ;  but  Marcius  liad  time 
to  beat  the  Hernicans  in  three  encounters,  and  to  oblige  the  nation 
to  submit  to  the  discretion  of  the  Senate,  who 
deprived  its  towns,  with  the  exception  of  three 
which  had  remained  faithful,  of  their  indepen- 
dence and  a  portion  of  their  territory.^  Thence 
Marcius  hastened  to  set  free  his  colleague  Cor- 
nelius, who  was  blockaded  by  the  Samnites, 
and  slew  thirty  thousand  of  them.  For  five 
months  the  legions  overran  Samnium,  burning 
houses  and  farms,  cutting  down  fruit-trees, 
killing  even  the  animals.^  On  their  return 
their  general  had  a  trium^ih,  and  an  eques- 
trian statue  was  erected  to  him  (306  B.  c). 

The  plebeians  were  desirous  of  glorifying 
by  this  honor  a  consul  of  their  own  order ; 
and  to  the  credit  of  the  Senate  it  must  be 
said,  that  when  in  later  times  the  statues 
which  encumbered  the  Forum  were  removed,  that  of  Marcius  was 
retained ;  Cicero   saw  it   tliere.^ 


ETRUSCAN    MARS.* 


^  Livy,  Lx.  42. 

"  Livy,  ix.  43.  They  received  tlie  rights  of  citizenship  without  the  suffrage,  and  with  a 
prohibition  of  any  intercourse  between  them.  The  towns  excepted  were  Alatrium,  Ferentinum, 
and  Verulae.     These  preserved  the  /us  coimuhii  et  commcrcii  among  tlicmselves. 

^  Diod.,  XX.  90.  It  is,  says  Polybius,  a  custom  of  the  Romans;  they  desire  thereby  to 
inspire  a  more  jirofound  terror. 

*  Or  warrior  with  a  lielmet  surmounted  by  a  high-crested  ridge  ;  bronze  figure  from  the 
Cabinet  de  France,  No.  2,977  in  Chabouillet's  catalogue. 

5  Philipp.  vi.  13. 


444    ■  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

The  Samnites  held  out  for  one  more  campaign,  m  spite  of 
the  ravaging  of  their  lands.  It  was  only  when  they  saw  their 
strongholds  in  the  hands  of  the  legions  that  they  decided  to  sue 
for  the  termination  of  a  war  which  had  lasted  more  than  a 
generation.  They  retained  their  territory  and  all  the  outward 
signs  of  independence,  hut  acknowledged  the  majesty  of  the  Roman 
peoi3le.  Circumstances  were  to  define  what  the  Senate  meant  by 
the  Roman  majesty  (304).^ 

This  peace  left  the  Etruscans  isolated,  and  exposed  to  the 
anger  of  Rome.  For  more  than  a  century  this  restless  nation 
had  allowed  themselves  to  he  forgotten.  Driven  back  by  the 
Gallic  invasions  into  the  mountains  to  the  west  of  Lake  Fucinus, 
and  restrained  by  Tibur  and  Praeneste,  which  barred  the  road 
into  Latium  against  them,  they  had  taken  no  part  in  the  Latin 
war.  But  the  Senate,  remembering  that  some  Aequians  had  fought 
in  the  Samnite  ranks  at  AUifae,  sent  against  them  the  legions 
which  had  just  returned  from  Samnium.  In  fifty  days  forty-one 
places  were  taken  and  burned ;  then  a  part  of  their  territory  was 
confiscated,  and  they  were  allowed  the  citizenship  without  the 
suffrage,  which  placed  them  in  the  condition  of  subjects  (304). 
Five  years  later,  owing  to  the  fear  of  a  Gallo-Samnite  coalition, 
they  were  raised  to  the  rank  of  citizens,  and  formed  into  two 
new  tribes,  the  Aniensis  and  Terentina.  A 
short  war  with  the  Marsi,  who  had  been  roused 
by  the  establishment  of  a  Roman  colony  at 
Carseoli,  and  a  treaty  concluded  with  the  Vestini 
and  Piceni,  are  the  sole  events  of  the  follow- 
ing years.  Rome  thus  placed  a  whole  mass  of 
BEAK  (rostkum.)^  frlcudly  nations  between  the  Mruscans,  the 
Gauls,  and  the  Samnites,  whom  she  had  conquered,  but  not  disarmed. 

An  episode  of  this  time  makes  us  think  of  our  own  tragic 
story  of  the  caves  of  Dahra.  Rome  did  not  disdain  to  watch  over 
those  agitations  with  which  wars  end,  but  with  which  they  also 
recommence.  Men  whom  Livy  calls  l)rigands,  but  who  were 
doubtless  patriots  refusing  to  accept  a  foreign  yoke,  overran  the 
Umbrian    country   in   bands.      Two   thousand    of    them   had   taken 

^  Livy  (Lx.  45)  says  :  fiiedun  antiquum  redditum. 
'^  Engraved  gem  from  the  Berlin  Museum. 


WAR    VESSEL   WITH 


COALITION  OF  THE  SAMNITES,   ETC.,   FROM  311   TO  280.     445 

refuge  in  a  deep  cavern.  A  cunsul  tracked  them  thither ;  and  a.s 
the  scjldiers  wlio  tried  to  penetrate  into  it  were  driven  back  with 
stones  and  arrows,  wood  was  piled  n[)  at  the  two  extremities  and 
set  alight,  and  the  fire  was  kept  burning  till  all  had  jici-ished. 
stifled    by   the    smoke    or    the    heat.' 

In  the  same  year  an  adventure  happened  which  the  Paduan 
Livy  tells  with  great  satisfaction.  Cleonynuis,  the  grandson  of  a 
Spartan  king,  had  come  with  a  fleet  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the 
Adriatic.  He  seized  vessels  and  pillaged  the  coasts.  Finding 
those  of  the  Sallentine  country  well  guarded  by  the  Roman  legions, 
he  pushed  on  as  far  as  the  head  of  the  gulf,  and  penetrated  by 
the  lagoons  of  the  Brenta  to  the  Venetians,  whose  territory  he 
ravaged.  The  protection  of  Rome  did  not  yet  extend  so  far;  but 
the  Paduans,  accustomed,  from  the  proximity  of  the  Gauls,  to  the 
use  of  arms,  fell  on  these  marauders,  killing  some,  and  pursuing 
others  to  their  ships,  several  of  which  were  taken.  Very  proud 
of  this  success  gained  over  the  Lacedaemonians,  Padua  deposited 
the  armed  prows  of  their  vessels  in  her  temple  of  Juno,  and 
instituted  a  feast,  still  celebrated  in  the  time  of  Augustus,  at 
which  a  naval  combat  on  the  Brenta  recalled  the  victory  over  the 
pirates  of  Cleonymus. 

II.   Second  Coalition  of  Samnites,  Etruscans,  Umbrians, 
AND  Gauls  (300-290). 

In  the  last  forty  years  the  Saumites  had  been  often  beaten. 
Nothing,  however,  had  yet  been  decided,  and  the  recently  con- 
cluded peace  was  only  a  momentary  repose  before  the  final 
struggle.  Betwixt  Rome  and  Samnium  it  was  no  longer  a  rivalry 
of  power,  but  a  question  of  life  or  death  ;  for  Roman  ambition 
increased  with  success,  and  Appius  had  just  declared  that  the 
sway  of  the  Republic  should  reach  as  far  as  Italy  reached.  War 
was  smouldering  everywhere ;  and  the  partial  fires  which  broke  out, 
—  the  war  with  the  Aequians,  the  Marsi,  and  soon  agamst  Arre- 
tium  and  Narnia,  —  announced  a  fresh  conflagration.  At  Arretium 
the  powerful  family  of   the  Cilnii  called   in  a  Roman  army,  which 

1  Livy,  X.  1. 


446 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


helped    to    subdue  the    people    of  that    town.      The    Cilnii    and   the 

l)eople  ):)ecame  reconciled,  says  Livy ; 
Ijut  most  probably  this  union,  effected 
by  the  foreigner,  took  place  to  the 
profit  of  Rome ;  and  here,  as  at 
Capua,  as  indeed  everywhere,  the 
Italian  aristocracy  sold  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  people  to  the  Senate  in 
order  to  save  its  own  privileges  and 
power.^  At  least  it  is  impossible  to 
explain  the  strange  conduct  of  the 
Etruscans  in  this  last  period  of  the 
Samnite  war,  except  by  internal 
troubles,  by  a  deplorable  rivalry  be- 
tween the  Roman  and  the  national 
parties,  one  desirous  of  peace,  the  other 
war,  whence  came  endless  broken 
truces  and  ill-conducted  campaigns. 

The  Gauls  at  this  time  began  again 
to  make  a  stir  in  the  world.  Their 
warlike  hordes  were  moving  in  the  Danube  Valley,  whence  they 
issued  to  ravage  Greece  and  Asia  Minor.  Italy  felt  the  reaction 
of  these  movements ;  a  few  bands  again  crossed  the  Alps,  and 
the  Senate,  uneasy  about  the  disposition  of  the  Senones,  made 
preparations  for  protecting  themselves  from  a  sudden  invasion. 
In  oOO  B.  c.  we  find  the  consuls  besieging  the  Umbrian  town  of 
Nequinum  (Narnia).  Built  on  a  rock  above  the  Nar,  this  place 
commanded  the  passage  from  Umbria  into  the  Valley  of  the  Tiber ; 
it  was  one  of  the  most  important  military  positions  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Rome.  The  Senate  there  established  a  strong  garrison. 
With  Carseoli  and  Alba  Fucentia,  which  had  been  colonized  a  little 
earlier,  this  place  completed  the  line  of  defence  which  surromided 
the  capital  of  Latium.® 

'  Livy  (xlii.  30)  says  later  on  about  another  people  and  another  nobility  :  .  .  .  plehi 
omnis,  ut  solet,  deterioris  erat  .  .  .  principum  diversa  studia  .  .  .  plures  ex  Us  ita,  si  praecipuam 
operant  navassent,  potentes  sese  in  cimtatibus  suis  futuros  rati  .  .  . 

^  Vase  of  red  earthenware  in  relief,  from  the  Campana  Museum. 

'  Sutrium,  Narnia,  Carseoli,  Alba  Fucentia,  and  the  colonies  of  the  Liris  Valley,  Sora, 
Atina,  Casinum,  Interamna,  etc. 


E.\RTHEN\VARE    OF    ARKETIUM 
(AKEZZO).- 


COALITION   OF   THE   SAMNITES,   ETC.,   FROM   311   TO   280.     447 


At  Narnia,  some  Saiuuitcs  had  been  found  among  the  defenders 
of  the  place ;  their  chiefs  were  preparing  a  general  rising,  and 
sought  allies  everywhere.  The  Lucanians  had  promised  them 
assistance  ;  but  at  the  moment  of  action  the  Roman  party  gained 
tlie  upper  hand,  and  caused  hostages  to  be  given.  The  Picentines, 
though  earnestly  solicited,  also  informed  the  Senate  of  the  message 
calling  them  to  arms  ;  and  the 
Marsic  confederation,  true  to 
its  old  jealousy  of  the  Sam- 
nites,  once  more  betrayed  the 
common  caiise.  But  other 
allies  were  found.  The  Sa- 
bines,  who  had  been  at  peace 
with  the  Romans  for  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half,  would  not 
abandon  a  sister  people  in  its 
last  hour.  The  Etruscans  were 
quite  decided.  Some  years 
previously  they  had  paid  the 
Gauls  to  march  upon  Rome. 
When  the  barbarians  held  the 
money,  "  That  is  only  your 
ransom,"  they  said;  ''to  aid  you  against  the  Romans  you. must 
give  us  lands."  The  Umln-ians  had  thrown  in  their  fortune  with 
the  Etruscans.  Thus,  war  was  ready  to  break  out  from  the 
Cisalpine  to  Bruttium.  To  this  ill-cemented  coalition  Rome  opposed 
all  the  strength  of  the  Latin  and  Campanian  nations  from  the 
Ciminian  forest  to  the  Silarus  ;  and,  what  was  worth  more  than 
an  army,  unity  of  counsel  and  control. 

The  war  commenced  at  both  extremities  at  once,  in  Etruria 
and  in  Lucania.  Valerius  Corvus,  then  consul  for  the  sixth  time, 
was  intrusted  with  the  Etruscan  war.      The  enemy,  frightened  by 

1  Alba  Fucentia  was  three  miles  from  Lake  Fucinus,  at  the  foot  of  Monte  Velino,  but 
upon  the  summit  of  a  hill.  This  made  it  a  very  strong  position ;  and  Rome  sent  thither,  in 
302,  six  thousand  colonists  (Livy,  x.  1),  and  in  later  times  used  it  as  the  state  prison. 
Syphax,  Perseus,  and  Bituitus  were  incarcerated  there.  A  part  of  the  walls  still  remain.s ; 
they  have  a  circuit  of  about  three  miles,  and  in  the  interior  are  seen  the  village  of  Alba,  of  a 
hundred  and  fifty  inhabitants,  and  some  ruins,  those  of  the  amphitheatre  and  a  theatre.  The 
plan  conveys  an  idea  of  what  the  ancient  cities  of  Central  Italy  were  like.  See  Promis, 
Antichita  di  Alba  Fucense. 


ALIiA    FUCENTIA. 1 


448 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


the  very  name  of  such  an  adversary,  allowed  its  country  to  be 
devastated  without  risking  a  battle  (299).  The  Samnites  had  sent 
an  army  into  Lucania,  to  aid  their  party.  Rome  summoned  them 
to  recall  it ;  they  would  not  listen  even  to  the  heralds.  The 
consul   Fabius    immediately    marched    ui^on    Bovianum    (298),   beat 


rnpM^LiV":  LVC'.'f  SC"'ie  B/^rBATVS  G^y/4IV0D  PAT    t 

I'F^CWArVS   f  Of,TIS'V!F.S/\riEtJS0Vh-  a/i5l\S-F0RMAVIRTVTEI-PAI.ISV  r 

•  •■'■•  f-  CONSOV  C  E  NSO*  AIDILIS-  GVEI-  F  VI  r>PV»-VaS-TAVK  ASI^CISAV  N  I- 

MNIOK^EPir-SVBICITOAv^MELOVCANA/oPSIDEsaVE-ABDOVCIT^-- 


*-X^=>*^'^^'*i. 


TOMB    OF    SCIPIO    BAltBATlTS. 


the  enemy,  whom  he  several  times  deceived  by  his  strategy,  and 
took  the  town  ;  while  his  colleague,  Scipio  Barbatus,  gained  a 
victory  over  the  Etruscans  (?)  near  Volaterrae.  These  successes 
were  no  doubt  less  than  they  are  represented,^  or  else  the  people 

'  We  have  the  inscription  from  the  tomb  of  this  consul.  It  is  the  most  ancient  monument 
of  the  Latin  language  with  a  settled  date  that  we  possess  [the  ablative  Gnawod  ending  in  d 
is  peculiarly  interesting.  —  Ed-I :  — 

Cornelius  Lucius  Scipio  Barbatus 

Gnaii'od  patre  prorjnatus,  Jhriis  vir  sapiensque. 

Quotas  forma  virtutei  parisuma  fait. 

Consol,  censor,  aidilis  (/uei  fait  apnd  ros 

Taurasia   Cisauna  Samnio  cepit 

Subif/it  omne  Loacana  opsidesque  abdoucit. 
Tluit  is  :  — 

Cornelius  Lucius  Scipio  Barliatus, 

Son  of  Cneus ;   valiant  and  wise, 
His  beauty  equalled  his  valor. 
He  was  consul,  censor,  aedile, 
Took   Taurasia  and   Cisauna  in  Samnium, 
Subdued  all  Lucania,  and  brourjht  back  hostages. 
The  omission  of  the  victory  over  the  Etruscans,  related  by  Livy,  proves  that  that  hiS' 


1.5-        « 


COALITION    OF   THE    SAMNITES,   ETC.,   FliOM   .'511   TO   280.     449 

were  desirous  of  striking  a  decisive  blow  early  in  the  campaign  ; 
for  in  the  following  year  they  obliged  Fabins  Rullianus,  who  had 
just  quitted  his  aedileship  after  having  exercised  his  celi'bratod 
censorship,  to  accept  the  consulslii[).  Fabins  only  consented  on 
condition  of  having  P.  Decius  for  his  colleague.  In  spite  of  all 
attempts,  the  Etruscans,  who  did  not  wish  to  engage  seriously 
before  the  arrival  of  the  Gauls,  held  themselves  on  the  defensive, 
and  the  two  consuls  were  able  to  march  towards  Samnium.  Having 
each  gained  a  victory,  one  at  Tifernum,  the  other  at  Maleventum, 
they  remained  five  months  m  that  province,  methodically  devastat- 
ing the  country,  halting  their  legions  in  the  richest  valleys,  and 
leaving  them  only  when  they  had  destroyed  everything.  In  this 
manner  Decius  made  forty-five  encampments  in  Samnium,  and 
Fabius  eighty-six,  which  were  long  afterward  to  be  recognized  by 
the  ruin  and  solitude  surrounding  them. 

This  systematic  devastation,  continued  by  Faliins  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  inspired  the  Samnites  with  a  desperate  resolve.  Quitting 
their  country,  which  they  could  no  longer  defend,  they  tlirew 
themselves  into  Etruria  under  the  leadership  of  Gellius  Ignatius, 
raised  to  rebellion  the  towns  which  still  hesitated,  persuading  the 
Umbrians  to  join  them,  and  called  in  the  Gauls.^ 

There  was  great  terror  in  Rome,  which  unlucky  omens  served 
to  increase.  It  was  said  that  the  statue  of  Victory  had  descended 
from  its  pedestal  and  had  turned  towards  the  Colline  Gate,  by 
which  the  Gaiils  had  entered  a  century  earlier.  Did  the  god- 
dess wish  to  flee  from  Rome,  or  to  show  her  favorite  people 
where  the  danger  or  the  triumph  lay  ?  But  tliis  people,  whose 
superstition  was  boundless,  never  lost  courage,  even  when  they 
doubted  the  assistance  of  their  gods.  At  Rome  the  justltiioii 
was  proclaimed  ;  that  is,  the  tribunals  were  closed,  business  was 
suspended.  All  available  men  were  enrolled,  even  to  the  freed- 
men,  and  Volumnius  was  recalled  from  Samnium  to  help  his 
colleague  Appius,  who  extricated  himself  by  a  sanguinary  en- 
gagement.     But  Campania  was  left   defenceless,  and  the  Samnites 

torian  here  again  attributed  to  the  Romans  a  success  which  they  never  gained.  We  are 
drawing  near  tlie  time  of  historic  certaint)',  liowever  ;  for  this  Sei]jio  was  the  grandfather 
of  the  conqueror  of  Hannibal. 

'  Livy,  ix.  21.  Thus  the  people  of  La  Vendee  crossed  the  Loire  to  stir  up  Bi'ittany, 
Maine,  and  Normandy. 

VOL.  I.  29 


450    •  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

fell  upon  it.  Volumnius  hastened  back  into  his  province,  beat  the 
enemy  there,  and  delivered  seven  thousand  four  hundred  prisoners. 
This  victory  diminished  the  terrors  of  the  city,  and  was  celebrated 
with  public  prayers. 

Ai^pius,  however,  was  left  in  a  dangerous  position :  in  front 
of  him  the  Saninite  Egnatius,  by  his  activity  and  hatred,  animated 
the  coalition  of  all  the  nations  of  the  north  of  the  peninsula, 
hushing  rivalry,  preaching  union,  and  guiding  the  terrible  Senones 
into  the  defiles  of  the  Apennines.  The  year  295  B.  c.  was  critical ; 
accordingly,  all  votes  raised  Fabius  and  Decius  to  the  consulship. 
Ninety  thousand  men  at  least,  divided  into  five  armies,  were  set 
afoot.  One  of  these  armies  invaded  Samnium,  whilst,  under  the 
name  of  colonies,  two  garrisons  occupied  Minturnae  and  Sinuessa ; 
another,  encamped  at  the  foot  of  the  Janiculum,  covered  the  city ; 
the  third,  established  near  Falerii,  protected  the  approaches  to  it ; 
the  fourth,  commanded  by  Scijoio  Barbatus,  took  up  a  position 
in  tlie  territory  of  the  Camertini,  whence  it  watched  the  move- 
ments of  the  Gauls ;  and  finally,  the  fifth,  formed  of  the  consular 
legions,  kept  the  field. 

When  Fabius  came  to  take  the  command,  Appius  was  keeping 
this  last  army  shut  up  in  a  camp,  the  defences  of  which  he  daily 
strengthened.  The  new  general  scorned  these  precautions,  which 
frightened  the  soldiei's,  tore  down  the  palisades,  and  took  the 
offensive  again.  Meanwhile  the  Gauls  attacked  a  legion  posted 
by  Scipio  near  Camerinum,  killed  them  to  the  last  man,  and, 
having  forced  the  passage  of  the  Apennines,  spread  over  the 
plain,  carrying  at  their  saddles  and  on  their  pikes  the  bleeding 
heads  of  the  legionaries.  If  the  conquerors  should  effect  a  junc- 
tion with  the  Umbrians  and  Etruscans,  it  was  clearly  all  over 
with  the  consular  army  ;  but  Fabius  by  a  diversion  recalled  the 
Etruscans  to  the  defence  of  their  homes,  and  then  hastened  in 
search  of  the  Gallo-Samnite  army  in  the  plams  of  Sentinum.  The 
shock  was  terrible  ;  the  war-chariots  of  the  barbarians  put  the 
Roman  cavalry  to  flight,  and  broke  the  first  line  of  the  legions. 
Seven  thousand  Romans  on  the  left  wing,  commanded  by  Decius, 
had  already  perished,  when  the  consul,  following  his  father's 
example,  devoted  himself  for  the  legions.  "  Before  me,"  he  cried, 
after   having    pronounced    the    sacred    formulae,    "  may   terror   and 


COALITION    OF  THE    SAMNITES,  ETC.,   FROM   311   TO  280.    451 

fliglit.  blood  and  death,  tlie  rage  of  tlie  gods  of  heaven  and  hell 
dash  onwards !  May  the  breath  of  destruction  annihilate  the 
hostile  arms  and  standards ! "  and  he  hurled  himself  into  the 
thickest  of  the  fray.  The  sacrifice  of  the  fii'st  Decius  had  troubled 
the  Latin  legions ;  but  the  Gauls  were  inaccessible  to  these  religious 
terrors,  and  this  fall  of  the  consul  served  only  to  animate  their 
courage.  The  whole  left  wing  would  have  been  crushed,  had  not 
Fabius,  who  had  overcome  the  Samnites,  hastened  up.  SuiTounded 
on  all  sides,  the  barbarians  retired  without  disorder,  and,  abandon- 
ing a  cause  in  which  they  were  only  auxiliaries,  they  regained 
their  own  country.  Twenty-five  thousand  Gallic  and  Samnite 
corpses  covered  the  field  of  battle  ;  eight  thousand  prisoners  re- 
mained in  the  hands  of  the  Romans  ;  Egnatius  had  perished  ;  only 
five  thousand  Samnites  went  back  to  their  mountains.  Fabius 
again  beat  an  army  that  had  issued  from  Perugia,^  and  then  went 
to  Rome  to  enjoy  his  triumph.  Behmd  his  car  the  soldiers  sang 
the  praises  of  Decius :  this  was  the  justice  of  the  people  (295  B.  c). 

The  coalition  was  dissolved.  It  remained  to  crush  successively 
those  who  had  taken  part  in  it,  whose  names  the  Senate  never 
forgot.  But  the  Samnites,  in  spite  of  so  many  defeats,  were  yet 
formidable.^  Like  a  lion  stricken  to  death,  this  indomitable 
nation  did  not  perish  without  inflicting  cruel  wounds.  Li  the 
following  year  they  beat  a  consul.  In  another  encounter  Atilius 
Regulus  found  himself  so  near  a  defeat,  that  he  vowed  a  temple 
to  Jupiter  Stator ;  and  as  the  winter  approached,  the  Romans  dared 
not  remain  in  Samnium.  A  diversion  of  the  Etruscans  remained 
without  any  successful  results.  The  colleague  of  Atilius  had  forced 
a  truce  of  forty  years  upon  them. 

The  war  was  now  about  to  concentrate  in  the  Apennines.  The 
son  of  Papirius  was  sent  thither  with  Sp.  Carvilius.  As  they  had 
done  fifteen  years  before,  so  now  the  Samnite  chiefs  called  religion 
to  the  aid  of  patriotism  and  union.  The  aged  Ovius  Paccius 
assembled  forty  thousand  warriors  near  Aquilonia.  In  the  centre 
of  the  camp  was  a  tent  of  linen  cloth ;  in  the  middle  of  the  tent 
an    altar  ;     around    the    altar    stood    soldiers    with    naked    swords. 

*  lie  slew  of  the  Perugians,  says  Livy  (x.  31),  four  tlinusanil  tlvi.'  liiindrod  men,  and  cap 
tured  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty,  who  paid  each  for  hi.s  ransom  510  ases. 
■^  Dura  ilia  pectora.     (Id.,  ibid.) 


452 


CONQUEST   OF  ITALY. 


After  mysterious  sacrifices,  the  bravest  were  led  thither,  one  by- 
one,  hke  so  many  victims ;  ^  and  each  warrior,  repeating  the  dread 
imprecations  of  Paccius,  devoted  himself,  his  family,  and  all  his 
race  to  the  anger  of  the  gods,  if  he  revealed  these  mysteries  or 
refused  to  follow  his  chiefs  everywhere,  if  he  fled  from  the  fight 
or  did  not  himself  slay  those  who  fled.  Some  refused,  and  were 
put  to  death.  On  their  bodies,  placed  with  those  of  the  victims, 
the  others  swore.  Then  from  among  these  the  generals  appointed 
ten,  who  in  turn  chose  ten  warriors,  and  so  on  up  to  sixteen 
thousand.      This  was  the  Linen  legion,  the   soldiers  of  which,  clad 


GALLIC    CART    (MUSEUM    OF    SAINT-tiKKMAIN). 

in  flashing  armor,  were  all  the  bravest  and  noblest  warriors  of 
Samnium.  They  kept  their  word.  Thirty  thousand  Samnites 
remained  on  the  battle-field  of  Aquilonia,  where  Papirius  had 
displayed  his  father's  talents. 

A  defection  of  the  Faliscans  called  Carvilius  into  Etruria. 
A  few  days  suflaced  to  drive  back  the  Etruscans,  ever  the  enemies 
of  Rome,  and  ever  fearful  of  a  decisive  combat.  The  Faliscans 
gave  a  year's  pay  to  the  army,  and  paid  a  fine  of  100,000  pounds 
weight  of  copper  (293  B.  c). 

At  his  triumph  Papirius  displayed  2,033,000  pounds  weight 
of    copper,    resulting    from    the    sale    of    the    prisoners,    and    1,330 


^  Nobilissimum  ijueinque  yenere  faclisqua  .  .  .  nuujin  ut  victima,  etc.      (Livj,  x.  38.) 


COALITION   OF   THE   SAMNITES,   ETC.,    FROM   311    TO   280.     453 

pounds  weight  of  silver,  taken  from  the  towns  and  temples. 
Carvilius,  on  his  side,  placed  380, UOO  pounds  of  bronze  in  the 
treasury,  distributed  200  ases  to  every  soldier,  and  twice  as 
much  to  the  centurions  and  knights.^  With  the  rest  of  his 
bt)oty  he  built,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Tiber,  the  temple  of 
Fors  Fortuna,  Lucky  Chance,  —  a  strange  deity  for  a  people  who 
left  so  little  to  chance.  The  arms  taken  on  the  field  of  battle 
were  distributed  to  the  colonies  and  allies  as  trophies  ;  and 
of  the  part  which  fell  to  himself  he  had  a  colossal  statue  of 
Jupiter  made,  which  he  placed  on  the  top  of  the  Capitoline 
Hill,  whence  it  commanded  the  city  and  the  whole  Roman  Cam- 
pagna.^ 

From  this  immense  quantity  of  booty  for  a  single  campaign, 
the  slaughter  on  the  battle-field,  and  the  sale  of  slaves  after  the 
victory,  we  can  understand  the  depopulation  and  misery  which 
everywhere  followed  the  legions.  After  half  a  centuiy  of  such 
warfare,  Samnium  might  well  be  exhausted ;  and  of  the  men  who 
had  seen  it  begin,  no  doubt  there  were  but  very  few  left  alive. 
There  was  one,  however,  who  from  the  depths  of  the  retirement, 
in  which  perhaps  the  reproaches  of  his  fellow  citizens  held  him, 
followed  in  despair  the  course  of  these  repeated  disasters.  This 
was  the  hero  of  the  Caudine  Forks,  the  man  who  had  believed  in 
Roman  faith.  The  Samnites  called  him  to  their  head  for  their  last 
effort,  and  Pontius  Herennius  reappeared  victorious  after  a  lapse 
of  twenty-nine  years,  in  the  plains  of  Campania.  Fabius  Gurges, 
the  son  of  the  great  Fabius,  dared  to  attack  him,  and  was  beaten ; 
but  his  father  obtained  leave  from  the  Senate  to  go  and  serve 
under  him  as  lieutenant.  The  conqueror  of  Perugia  and  Sentinum 
struck  the  last  blow  of  this  war.  Twenty  thousand  Samnites 
perished,  and  their  leader  was  taken.  Fabius  Gurges  triumphed ; 
his  father  followed  him  on  horseback,  and  behmd  them  marched 
Pontius  in  chains.  When  the  triumphant  general  left  the  Sacred 
Way  to  ascend  to  the  Capitol,  the  victors  dragged  Pontius  to  the 

1  Livy's  figures  have  been  accused  of  exaggeration  by  those  who  maintain  that  the 
mountaineers  of  Samnium  were  poor.  That  is  true ;  but  they  forget  that  for  centuries 
they  had  pillaged  Campania,  Apulia,  and  Magna  Graecia,  that  ancient  nations  loved  to 
treasure  up  valuables,  and  that  warrior  tribes  delight  in  displaying  their  wealth  in  their  arms. 

^  Here  ends  Livy's  first  decade;  we  do  not  meet  him  again  till  '120  B.C.  This  statue 
was  to  be  seen,  says  Pliny  {Nat.  Hist.  xx.Kiv.  18),  from  the  Alban  Mount. 


454   ■  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

prison  of  Ancus.^     They  went  their  way ;  one  to  render  thanks  to 
the  gods,  the  other  to  yield  his  head  to  tlie  executioner. 

Two  centuries  later,  the  Roman  who  knew  most  of  jus- 
tice, who  had  the  tenderest  soul,  still  spoke  of  punishments  due 
to  the  vanquished.^  Ancient  warfare  was  certainly  a  merciless 
duel. 

For  one  year  more  the  legions  pursued  the  remnants  of  the 
Samnite  armies,  till  Curius  at  length  extorted  from  this  nation 
the  acknowledgment  of  their  defeat.  A  treaty,  the  clauses  of 
Avhich  we  do  not  know,  classed  them  among  the  allies  of  Rome 
(290  B.  c).  To  keep  them  in  restraint,  Venusia,  between  Samnium 
and  Tarentum,  was  occupied  by  a  numerous  colony. 

We  know  just  as  little  of  the  operations  of  Curius  in  the 
Sabine  country.  It  is  only  mentioned  that  the  Sabines  paid  for 
the  aid  they  had  so  tardily  afforded  the  Samnites  with  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  their  lands.  On  his  return,  after  having 
penetrated  as  far  as  the  Adriatic,  Curius  uttered  these  words, 
which  show  how  Rome  conducted  a  war :  ''  I  have  conquered  so 
many  countries,  that  those  regions  would  be  but  a  A^ast  solitude,  had 
I  less  prisoners  to  people  them  with.  I  have  subdued  so  many 
men,  that  we  should  not  know  how  to  feed  them,  ,  had  I  not 
conquered  so  many  lands."  Accordingly,  he  distributed  seven 
jugera  to  every  citizen.  For  himself  he  would  accept  no  other 
recompense.  The  Sabines  had  the  rights  of  citizenship  without 
the  suffrage ;  but  Reate,  Nursia,  and  perhaps  Amiternum,  re- 
mained simple  praefectures.^  Castrum  and  Hadria,  on  the  Adriatic, 
were  colonized.  Curius  triumphed  twice  ui  the  same  year.  This 
honor,  hitherto  unprecedented,  and  the  respect  which  attached 
to  his  name,  proclaim  great  services.  The  true  Samnite  war  was 
over. 

For  other  reasons  Curius  well  deserved  to  triumph  twice,  for 
he  had  conquered  nature  as  well  as  the  Samnites.  He  turned  the 
Velinus  aside  into  the  Nera,  and   created  the    magnificent    cascade 

1  The  Tullianum.  See  in  Sallust  (^Cat.  bb)  the  description  of  the  place  where  execu- 
tions took  place. 

^  Cic.,  in  Verrem,  II.  v.  30:  Supplicia  quae  debentur  liostihuis  victis. 

'  Fest.,  s.  V.  Praefectura ;  Aur.  Vict.,  viii.  33;  Veil.  Paterc,  i.  14.  The  long  peace 
which  the  Sabine  country  had  enjoyed  had  increased  the  wealth  of  its  inhabitants.  It  was 
after  the  conquests  of  Curius,  says  Strabo,  that  the  Romans  became  opulent. 


CASCADES    OF    TERN). 


COALITION  OF  THE   SAMNITES,  ETC.,   FROM  311   TO   280.     455 

of  Terni.  Victors  and  vanquished  have  been  dust  these  twenty- 
three  centuries ;  but  the  marvellous  spectacle  that  this  Roman 
created  for  himself  lasts  for  ever. 

Could  this  Samnite  war,  which  caused  such  ruin,  have  been 
avoided  ?  There  is  something  of  the  bird  of  prey  and  the  wild 
Ix'ast  even  in  many  civilized  men ;  naturally  these  instincts  of 
rapine  and  carnage  were  more  strongly  developed  in  times  when 
humanity  was  nearer  its  origin.  The  men  of  the  plains  and  those 
of  the  mountains,  the  husbandmen  and  the  shepherds,  were  neces- 
sarily hostile  to  one  another ;  and  in  all  ages  the  one  race  had 
yielded  to  the  temptation  of  reaping  the  lands  sown  by  the  other. 
Rome,  who  was  herself  mistress  of  the  Latin  plain,  and,  through 
Capua,  also  of  the  Campanian  plain,  was  anxious  to  put  a  stop  to 
this  periodical  pillaging,  and  to  act  as  the  police  of  the  Apen- 
nines. With  her  usual  tenacity,  she  succeeded  in  so  doing.  This 
constituted  the  whole  Samnite  war.  It  had  lasted  fifty-three  years 
(343-290) ;  and  the  intervals  of  peace  had  only  served  the  two 
nations  for  repairing  their  arms,  for  a  moment's  breathing  time, 
before  they  again  closed  in  conflict. 

Accordingly  we  have  followed  the  incidents  of  this  desperate 
struggle  and  the  slow  death-pangs  of  a  brave  nation  with  tedium, 
it  is  true,  but  also  with  admiration^  and  involuntary  regrets. 
Boldness,  heroism,  love  of  country,  —  nothing  was  lacking  to  the 
Samnites,  nothing  but  that  union  which  alone  makes  nations 
strong.  In  order  to  rise  to  a  glorious  rank  among  the  nations,  it  is 
at  times  needful  to  sacrifice  precious  but  enervating  liberties.  In 
the  very  camp  the  Samnites  did  not  forget  the  wild  independence 
of  their  mountains.  At  Aquilonia,  in  order  to  secure  their 
obedience  for  the  last  time,  their  chiefs  had  been  obliged  to  call 
the  most  dreadful  mysteries  of  religion  to  the  aid  of  their 
authority.  Therefore  Samnium  perished,  and  deserved  to  perish ; 
for  had  she  been  victorious,  she  would  never  have  drawn  Italy  and 
the  world  from  the  chaos  out  of  which  Rome  drew  them. 

1  Quinam  sit  ille,  quern  pigeat  longinquitatis  bellorum  scribendo  legendoque,  quae  gercntes  non 
/atigaverunt ?     (Lhy.  x.  31.) 


456'  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


III.   Coalition  of  the  Etruscans  and  Senones  ;  War 

AGAINST    THE   LuCANIANS    (283-281). 

Latium,  Campania,  Apulia,  and  Samnium  submitted  to  the 
rule  or  the  alliance  of  Rome.  But  on  the  north  a  part  of 
the  Etruscans  were  hostile,  and  the  Gauls  had  quickly  for- 
gotten their  defeat  at  Sentinum.  On  the  south,  although  the 
Samnite  nation  had  laid  down  their  arms,  there  remained  some 
bands  which,  rejecting  all  }jeace  with  Rome,  went  to  seek 
refuge  among  the  rugged  mountains  of  Calabria.  There  are  to 
be  found  immense  forests,  where  by  degrees  a  new  nation  was 
formed,  the  Bruttii,  whom  the  Greeks  and  Romans  disdainfully 
called  revolted  slaves.  Greeks  and  Lucanians  saw  with  dread 
the  Roman  rule  drawing  nearer  to  them,  —  Tarentum  especially, 
which  showed  a  growing  jealousy  of  the  successes  of  the  bar- 
barous city  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber.  But  how  were  so 
many  tribes  to  be  united  for  common  action  ?  Pyrrhus  and 
Hannibal  himself  could  not  effect  it.  Rome  alone  worked  this 
miracle,  because  she  applied  to  the  work  two  great  forces,  —  wisdom 
and  time. 

There  was  only  an  instant  of  serious  danger.  Arretium, 
thanks  to  the  Cilnii,  had  remained  faithful  to  the  alliance  of 
Rome ;  some  Etruscans,  supported  by  an  army  of  Senones,  came 
and  besieged  it.  The  legions  hastened  to  the  succor  of  the  place; 
but  their  leader,  seven  tribunes,  and  thirteen  thousand  soldiers, 
fell  on  the  field  of  battle ; '  the  rest  were  taken  prisoners  (283), 
This  was  one  of  the  most  bloody  defeats  that  the  Romans  had 
ever  suffered ;  it  served  to  increase  the  alarm  that  the  simple 
announcement  of  a  Gallic  war  caused  among  them.  When  the 
Senate  caused  complaints  to  be  brought  before  the  council  of  the 
Senones,  their  chief,  Britomar,  whose  father  had  been  slain  in  the 
Ijattle  of  Arretium,  replied  by  killing  the  deputies  as  expiatory 
victims,   whom    he    offered  .,  to    the    paternal    manes.     Indignation 

^  Polybius,  ii.  19  ;  Orosius,  iii.  22. 


COALITION  OF  THE  ETKUSCANS,  ETC.,  FROM   283  TO  281.    457 

doubled  the  strength  of  Rome,  and  two  powerful  armies  were  raised. 
With  one  of  them  one  of  the  consuls  restrained  or  overcame  the 
Etruscans ;  with  the  other  Dolabella,  quietly  crossing  the  Sabine 
country,  entered  the  territory  of  the  Senones  by  Picenuni,  burned 
their  villages,  slew  the  men,  sold  the  women  and  children,  and 
only  quitted  the  country  when  he  had  made  it  a  desert.  He 
had  borne  thither  the  vengeance  of  Rome,  which,  when  tlie 
sons  of  the  conquerors  of  the  AUia  were  exterminated,  no 
longer  blushed  for  the  ransom  carried  off  from  the  Capitol. 
In  order  to  prevent  the  Cisalpine  Gauls  from  replacing  the 
Senones  in  this  solitude,  the  Senate  sent  colonists  to  guard 
the  country,  settling  them  at  Sena,  on  the  north  of  Ancona, 
at  Castrum,  and  at  Hadria,  in  Picenum.  As  the  sway  of 
the  Romans  had  crossed  the  Apennines  on  the  south  by  the 
occupation  of  Venusia,  so  it  crossed  them  on  the  north  by  settle- 
ments on  the  Adriatic,  whence  she  could  watch  over  the  Valley  of 
the    Po. 

The  Boii,  whose  territory  extended  from  Parma  to  Bologna, 
grew  alarmed  at  this  extermination  of  a  Gallic  tribe.  With 
those  of  the  Senones  who  had  escaped  the  Roman  sword,  they 
entered  the  Valley  of  the  Arno  by  the  defiles  which  led  from 
the  Romagna  to  Florence,  and  passed  through  the  whole  of 
Etruria,  summoning  all  those  who  were  still  enemies  to  Rome. 
But  not  far  from  Narnia,  near  a  swampy  marsh  called  Lake 
Vadimon,  they  were  stopped  by  a  defeat  with  fearful  slaughter. 
Streams  of  blood  ran  as  far  as  the  Tiber,  and  reddened  its 
waters. 

In  the  following  year  the  Boii  made  peace  (282  B.  c).  For 
two  years  longer  the  Senate  was  obliged  to  send  armies  into 
Etruria.  The  victory  of  Coruncanius  over  the  Vulcientes  put  an 
end  to  this  war,  which  had  begun  almost  with  the  beginning  of 
Rome.  From  the  year  280  the  name  of  Etruscans  no  longer 
appears  in  the  triumphal  records. 

Since  the  day  when  Fabius  passed  the  Ciminian  forest,  the 
Tuscan  augurs  could  predict  to  their  nation  that  the  end  of  its  life 
was  drawing  near,  and  that  the  tenth  century  —  in  which,  according 
to  ancient  prophecies,  its  nationality  was  to  perish  —  had  arrived. 
Resignation  was  easy  to  them.     Their   gods  had  spoken,  and   the 


458' 


CONQUEST    OF   ITALY. 


Romans  had  fulfilled  the  oracle.  Why  should  they  resist  destiny, 
especially  when  Rome  demanded  so  little,  when  life  was  so  sweet, 
and  natiire  so  fruitful  in  that  land  of  plenty,  where  nothing 
was  lackmg  for  pleasure  and  luxury  ?  One  of  the  ancients 
said  of  the  Etruscans :  "  Renouncing  the  virtues  of  which  their 
ancestors  were  so  jealous,  the  Tuscans  pass  their  lives  in  feast- 
ing or  in  wanton  pleasures ;  they  have 
thus  lost  the  glorious  renown  of  their 
fathers."  ^  We  may  write  here,  then,  Finis 
Etruriae. 

During  these  operations  in  the  North, 
hostilities  had  been  actively  carried  on  in 
the  South.  The  Greek  town  of  Thurium 
(Thurii)  had  implored  the  aid  of  Rome 
against  the  Lucanians,  who  ravaged  their 
lands  every  summer.  A  first  expedition 
against  these  pillagers  effected  nothing;  but 
in  282  Fabricius  opened  his  way  as  far  as 
Thurium,  the  blockade  of  whic}i  he  raised, 
and  left  troops  there.  Locri,  Crotona,  and 
perhaps  Rhegium,  also  received  Roman  gar- 
risons. On  his  return,  Fabricius  put  400 
talents  into  the  treasury :  with  the  re- 
mainder of  the  booty  he  paid  large  gra- 
tuities to  the  soldiers,  and  restored  to  the 
citizens  what  they  had  paid  for  the 
^""""pLf  clction"' ^^"- "Hlitary    tax    that    year.     Such    productive 

campaigns  made  men  love  war ;  the  am- 
bition of  the  great  and  the  greed  of  the  poor  found  it  to  their 
advantage. 

Peace  was  apparently  restored  in  the  peninsula,  and  from  the 
Rubicon  to  the  Straits  of  Messina  all  except  Tarentum  acknowl- 
edged the  majesty  of  the  Roman  people,  or  submitted  to  alliance 
with  it ;  but  the  powerful  city  on  the  banks  of  the  Taras,  proud 
of  its  Spartan  origin,  its  riches,  and  the  numerous  vessels  that 
crowded   its   harbor,    the   mare   Piccolo,    was   about   to    instigate   a 

'  Diod.,  V.  40.  Theopompus  and  Timaeus  said  mucli  more  .  .  .  famulus  nudas  minis- 
trare  viris  .  .  .  communes  mulieres,  etc.,  Athen.,  Deipnosnph.  xii.  14,  and  iv.  38. 


ETRUSCAN    FUNERAL    URN. 


COALITION   OF  THE  ETRUSCANS,  ETC.,   FROM  283  TO  281.    459 

war  move  dangerous  to  Rome  than  had  been  any  of  the  struggles 
which  she  had  sustained  in  the  hist  sixty  years. 

'  Tliis  volivi'  sliiold  scorns  to  represent  llic  fanious  le<;entl  of  the  gold  of  the  Capitol 
weighed  by  the  (laiils  ;  below,  Camillus  and  Breiinus ;  above,  the  town  anil  its  monuments ; 
in  the  centre,  a  <^rotes(jue  (ignre  with  rani's  liorns,  a  twisted  beard,  and  great  leaves.  'I'he 
workmanship  is  referred  to  the  lirst  century  of  our  era.     (l)odwcll,  dc  Parma  Wnoriicdrdiana.) 


VOTIVE    SHIELD.^ 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

¥AK  WITH  PTEEHUS   (280-272). 

I.    Rupture   with   Tarentum  ;    First   Campaign  of   Pyrrhus 

IN  Italy  (282-278). 

WE  have  reached  the  moment  when  Rome  and  Greece  are  about 
to  clash.  Greece  was  then  moribund,  and  her  end  marked 
the  completion  of  a  new  jDeriod  in  the  life  of  humanity.  By  allow- 
ing individual  genius  its  full  flight,  by  leaving  it  untrammelled 
by  the  bonds  of  priestcraft  or  of  an  overshadowing  aristocracy, 
Greece  had  created  political  liberty,  art,  and  science ;  but  from  an 
excess  of  liberty  social  anarchy  had  arisen.  The  Greeks  were 
a  great  people  ;  Europe  owes  her  civilization  to  them  ;  Init  they 
never  were  a  great  state.  That  is  why  others  inherited  their  labors. 
Rome  represents  a  second  age  of  the  European  world,  —  manhood 
after  youth,  the  people  of  action  after  the  people  of  theory, 
ambition  after  enthusiasm,  discipline  and  order  after  liberty  and 
anarchy.  Plato  and  Aristotle,-'  tracing  the  ideal  of  a  Greek  city, 
admit  therein  only  a  few  thousand  citizens,  and  even  condemn 
fruitfulness  in  women.  Rome  makes  citizens  even  of  her  enemies, 
and  prepares  her  subjects  to  become  so.  Accordingly,  her  pros- 
perity endures  for  ages,  whilst  that  of  the  Greek  cities  had  lasted 
but  a  few  years.  Sparta  had  succeeded  to  Athens,  Thebes  to 
Sparta,  Macedonia  to  all  three.      Then  when   Alexander  died,  and 

1  Plato  would  have  no  more  than  ,5,040  citizens  (Laics,  v.).  Children  born  of  parents 
who  are  blemished  or  too  old,  says  he,  natural  children  or  deformed,  should  be  exposed.  The 
republic  must  not  be  burdened  with  them  (isle;),  v.).  Aristotle  demands  that  the  number 
of  marriages  and  the  number  of  children  to  be  raised  in  each  household  should  be  fixed.  If 
the  law  of  the  country  forbids  the  exposure  of  children,  says  ho,  let  abortion  be  practised 
(Pollt.  vii.  14,  10).  He  would  have  the  number  of  citizens  such  that  they  might  all  know 
one  another  {Ibid.,  vii.  14).  In  another  place  he  mentions  the  means  employed  by  the  Cretans 
to  stop  the  increase  of  ]>opulation.     (Pol.  ii.  7,  4.) 


WAK   WITH   PYREIIUS,  FKOM   280   TO   272. 


461 


designs 


with    him,    a    huge    disorder    had    shaken    hi 


IS 


the    Indus    to    the    Adriatic;    confusion    devoid    of 

Morality  was  di;- 


COIN    OK    niCETAS 


COIN   OF   CAMARINA.2 


his    vast 

empire,    from 

greatness,  chaos  whence  life  could  never  spring ! 

based,  nationalities  were  forgotten ;    every 

man's    hand   was    against    his    neighbor's 

for  a  little    gold    or   power ;    war  became 

a    trade,    as    in    Italy    and    in    Germany 

at  the    most   disastrous    periods    of    their 

history  ;    and    a    few    mercenary   soldiers   bestowed   or   took   away 

crowns. 

This  general  decay  of  the  Greek  race  had  reached  Sicily  and 
Magna  Graecia.  In  Sicily  the  brilliant  rule  of  Agathocles  had 
just  closed,  and  everywhere  petty 
tyrants  arose :  ^  Hicetas  at  Syra- 
cuse, Phintias  at  Agrigentum, 
Tyndarion  at  Tauromenium,  Hera- 
clides  at  Leontini,  etc.  On  the 
west,  Carthage  was  strengthening 
herself ;  on  the  north,  the  mer- 
cenaries of  Agathocles  took  possession  of  Messina  by  treason,  mas- 
sacred the  male  inhabitants,  and  thence  extended  their  raids  over 
the  whole  island  as  far  as  Gela  and 
Camarina,  which  they  pillaged.*  On 
the  north  of  the  straits  Rhegium,  so 
hardly  treated  by  DionysiTis  the  Elder ; 
Locri,  ruined  by  his  son  ;  Metapontum, 
almost  destroyed  by  Cleonymus  and 
Agathocles;  Thurium,  which  had  replaced  Sybaris  without  suc- 
ceeding to  its  power ;  Croton,  thrice  taken  by  Agathocles  and 
Dionysius,  —  all    these,    surrounded    by   Lucanians    and    Bruttians, 

'  Head  of  Ceres  crowned  with  ears  of  wheat ;  behind,  the  torch  Ughted  by  Demeter 
in  her  search  for  her  daughter  Proserpina ;  the  legend  2YPAK02IQN ;  coin  of  the  Syra- 
cusans.  On  the  reverse,  a  Victory  in  a  chariot,  drawn  by  two  horses  galloping ;  above, 
a  star  and  the  words  EnUKETA;  under  the  reign  of  Hicetas.     Gold  coin. 

"^  Died.,  Fragm.  xxii.  Excerpt.  Hoeschel.,  p.  495. 

^  KAMAPINA  (liav),  coin  of  Camarina;  head  of  Hercules  with  the  Uon's  skin.  On  the 
reverse,  figure  on  a  rjuadrir/a  crowned  by  Victory,  probably  in  commemoration  of  a  prize 
won  in   the  chariot-race  at  Ol^Tajna. 

^  Diod.,  Fragm.  x.xi.  Excerpt.  Hoeschel.,  p.  493. 

^  Laurel-crowned  head  of  Apollo.  On  the  reverse,  BA2IAE02  *INTIA,  Phintias  being 
king,  and  a  wild  boar.      Bronze  coin. 


COIN   OP    PHINTIAS.^ 


462 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


lived    a   miserable   life    amidst    continual    alarms.       Tarentum   was 
an   exception ;  ^    but    these    Dorians,    avIio   had   become   the   richest 

merchants  of  Italy,  had  fallen 
into  a  dissoluteness  of  manners 
which  made  them  incapable  of 
sustaining  a  serious  struggle.  Yet 
the}^  had  the  haughtiness  which 
d'^^A.-  wealth    brings,    and   Avere    angry 

at    hearing   all    Italy  resound  with    the    name   of   these   barbarians 


PLAN  OF  THE 
HARBOUR     OF 

TARENTUM 

3cale 


HARBOR   OF   TARENTUM. 


on    the    banks    of   the    Tiber,   who  were  as  incapable  of  executing 
a  work  of  art  as  of  arranging  a  festival. 

The  Senate  had  added  to  the  Roman  garrison  of  Thurium 
a  squadron  of  ten  galleys  to  cruise  in  the  gulf.  One  day,  as  the 
people  of  Tarentum  were  assembled  in  the  theatre  facing  the  sea, 
the  Roman  vessels  appeared  at  the  entrance  of  the  port.  A  dem- 
agogue,   named    Philocharis,    cried    out   that,    according   to   ancient 


'  Tarentum  was  the  only  port  on  this  coast :  Croton  had  only  a  summer  roadstead 
(Polyb.,  X.  Fragra.  i.).  The  principal  industry  of  Tarentum  was  the  manufacture  and  dye- 
ing of  woollen  stuffs.  Hence  its  relations  with  the  Samnites,  of  whom  it  bought  the 
wool.  The  latter  took  in  exchange  salt,  fish,  and  manufactured  olijects.  (Cf.  Strabo,  v. 
p.  259.) 

'^  TEAAS.  Gala  was  the  name  of  the  torrent  which  ran  at  the  foot  of  the  walls  of  the 
town,  now  the  Fiume  di  Terranova.  The  god  of  this  torrent  was  rejiresented  imder  the  form 
of  an  ox  with  a  man's  head.  Thus  our  silver  tetradrachma  of  the  town  of  Gela  shows  it; 
On  tlie  reverse,  a  chariot,  or  biga,  and  a  figure  crowned  by  a  Victory,  —  a  token  of  a  prize 
gained  in  the  Olympic  games. 


WAR   WITH   PYRRHUS,  FROM  280   TO   272. 


463 


treaties,  tlie  Romans  had  not  the  right  to  pass  the  Lacinian  Cape. 
Tlie  Tarentines  hastened  to  their  vessels,  attacked  the  Roman 
galleys,  sank  fom'  of  them,  took  another,  and  butchered  the  crew ; 
and,  emboldened  by  this  easy  success,  went  and  drove  the  Roman 
garrison  out  of  Thurium  and  pillaged  tlic  town.  Soon  a  Roman 
ambassador  presented  himself,  demanding  reparation.  He  was  re- 
ceived with  hootins;  and  low  insults :  one  buffoon   dared   to   cover 


THE    L.\CIXIAN    CAPE.* 

the  ambassador's  toga  with  filth.     '•  Laugh,"  said  Postumius,  "  laugh 
now  ;    vour  blood  will  wash  out  these  stains."  (282  b.  c.) 

Th^  Senate,  however,  entered  upon  this  fresh  war  with 
repugnance.  The  Etruscans  still  resisted  the  legions.  Armed 
bands  overran  Sanmium,  and  the  Lucanians  must  be  punished  for 
their  repeated  attacks  upon  Thurium.  Moreover,  it  was  evident 
that  the  Tarentines  would  seek    auxiliaries  in  Greece,  as  they  had 

'  This  solitary  pillar  still  marks  the  site  of  the  famous  temple  of  Hera  Lacinia,  built  on 
the  point  of  the  ca])e.     (From  a  photograph  taken  in  1882.) 


464 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


COIN    OF    PYRRHUS.' 


already  done  thrice,  when  they  had  called  in  Archidamas,  king 
of  Spai-ta,  Alexander  of  Molossus,  and  the  Lacedaemonian  Cleo- 
nynius.     The    discussion   lasted    several   days    in   the    Senate.     The 

war  party  at  last  pre- 
vailed, and  the  con- 
sul Aemilius  marched 
through  Samnium 
against  Tarentum.  Be- 
fore attacking  it  he 
once  more  offered 
peace.  The  nobles 
accepted  it ;  but  the  popular  party,  who  were  the  true  masters  of 
the  state,  I'ejected  all  proposals,  and  invited  Pyrrhus  to  make  a 
descent  upon  Italy  (281). 

Pyrrhiis,  nephew  of  Olynapias,  and  son  of  Aeacides,  king  of 
Epirus,  was  perhaps  the  ablest  of  all  those  who  claimed  to  be  the 
heirs  of  Alexander.  Tried,  however,  by  the  most  diverse  fortunes, 
having  already  twice  lost  and  regained  his  kingdom,  and  conquered 
and  abandoned  Macedonia,  he  had  acquired  a  restless  ambition  which 
all  his  life  long  impelled  him  from  one  enterjJrise  to  another.  At 
Ipsus  (301)  he  had  fought  for  Antigonus  against  Seleucus,  Lysim- 
achus,  and  Cassander.  As  Asia  fell  to  these,  he  dreamed  of  the 
conquest  of  Rome,  Sicily,  and  Carthage ;  he  desired  to  be  the 
Alexander  of  the  West.  Method  was  wanting  in  all  his  designs ; 
accordingly,  he  lived  and  died  less  like  a  king  than  an  adventurer. 
In  other  respects,  brilliant  in  mind  and  courage,  like  his  cousin 
Alexander ;  like,  him  too,  beloved  by  his  people,  even  to  the  most 
entire  devotion ;  a  spoiled  child  of  fortune,  which  so  often  smiled  on 
him  and  so  often  deserted  him ;  upright  of  heart,  open  to  all  noble 
feelings,  history  at  once  loves  and  condemns  him.  When  he  saw 
Fabricius,  he  desired  to  have  him  for  a  friend ;  when  he  knew  the 
Eomans,  he  was  eager  to  have  them  as  allies ;  and  he  never  Alushed 
at  having  been  conquered  by  them. 

The  Tarentines  spared  neither  presents  nor  promises.  He  was 
to  find  in  Italy  350,000  foot  soldiers  and  20,000  cavalry.  In  spite 
of    the    warnings    of   his    friend,    the    Thessalian   Cineas,    Pyrrhus 


1  Head  of  Jupiter  crowned  with   oak.     On   the  reverse,  BASIAEfiS  HYPPOY,  Pyrrhus 
being   king. 


WAR   WITH   PYliRHUS,    FROM   280   TO   272. 


465 


accepted,  and  immediately  sent  off  Milo  with  three  thousand  men 
to  occupy  the  citadel  of  Tarentum.  During  the  winter  he  prepared 
a  considerable  armament  — 120,000  infantry,  3,000  cavalry,  2,000 
archers,  500  slingers,  and  20 
elephants.  In  crossing,  a  tem- 
pest dispersed  the  fleet  and 
almost  dashed  the  royal  vessel 
on  the  coast  of  the  Messapians. 

When  Pyrrhus  arrived  at 
Tarentum,  he  closed  the  baths 
and  theatres,  obliged  the  citizens 
to  take  arms,  and  exercised  them 
pitilessly,  like  mercenaries.  The 
town  of  pleasure  had  become  a 
place  of  war.  Many  Tareutines 
fled  (280  B.  c). 

At  Rome  it  was  desired  to 
open  the  campaign  with  a  sol- 
emn declaration  of  war  against 
Pyrrhus ;  but  Epirus  was  far 
away,  and  time  pressed.  They 
escaped  from  the  difficulty,  as  at 
Caudium,  Ijv  a  subterfuge.  An 
Epirote  deserter  bought  a  field, 
and  on  this  field  the  heralds 
solemn!}'  carried  out  the  religious 
ceremonie.s.  The  letter  of  the 
law  was  fulfilled.  The  gods 
oug;ht  to  consider  themselves 
satisfied.     The  public  conscience 

asked  no  more.  Happily,  the  preparations  for  war  were  more 
serious.  The  consuls  enrolled,  as  in  all  times  of  extreme  danger, 
all  the  capable  men,  even  of  the  proletariat.  The  freedom  of  Rome, 
recently  granted  to  several  tribes,  the  colonies  spread  over  Cam- 
pania, Samnium,  and  Apulia,  especially  that  of  Venusia,  which  was 
so  numerous,  and  the  garrisons  in  the  advanced  posts  of  Locri  and 


j^.c/imts, 


VOL.    I. 


1  Statue  in  the  C'apitoline  ^luseum. 
.30 


4G6 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


COIN    OF    THE    I.UCANIAN    HERACLEIA.l 


Rliegium,  secured  the  fidelity  of  the  allies.  Moreover,  to  keep 
them  from  the  sight  of  hostile  standards,  Laevinus  marched  to 
meet    the    King   as   far   as   the   l:)anks    of   the    Siris.       In  vain  did 

Pyrrhus  strive  to  negotiate,  con- 
descending to  act  the  part  of 
mediator ;  the  Romans  repelled 
every  offer :  they  neither  would 
nor  could  allow  a  stranger  to  in- 
terfere in  the  affairs  of  Italy.  The 
first  hattle  was  fought  near  Hera- 
clea,  half  way  between  Thurium  and  Tarentum.  The  elephants, 
which  were  new  to  the  Romans,  threw  their  ranks  into  disorder. 
They  left  fifteen  thousand  men  on  the  field  of  liattle.  But  Pyrrhus 
had  lost  thirteen  thousand.^  "Another  such  victory,"  said  the 
latter,  "  and  I  return  without  an  army  to  Epirus." 
He  himself  was  nearly  slain  by  the  Frentanian 
Vulsinius ;  and  one  of  his  officers,  whom  he  had 
equipped  with  his  own  weapons  and  royal  mantle, 
had  fallen,  covered  with  wounds. 

This  hard-earned  victory,  the  very  dangers  he 
had  run,  and  what  he  had  learned  about  Rome, 
inspired  the  Greek  King  with  an  earnest  regard 
for  these  barbarians,  whose  tactics  were  so  excellent.  He  had 
reckoned,  when  crossing  the  Adriatic,  on  an  easy  war,  and  he  met" 
with  the  most  redoubtable  adversaries ;  on  numerous  auxiliaries,  and 
the  Italians  had  left  him  to  fight  alone  at  Heraclea.  After  this 
battle,  Locri  had  opened  its  gates  to  him  ;  the  Cainpanian  legion, 
in  garrison  at  Rhegium,  massacred  the  inhal^itants  of  that  city  and 
took  their  i^lace,  as  the  Mamertines  had  done  at  Messina.  Some 
Lucanians  and  Samnites  came  to  his  camp  ;  Ijut  tliis  was  very  far 
from  the  three  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  men  who  had  been 
promised. 

Pyrrhus    renewed    his    first    offers,  —  that    the    Romans    should 
leave   free    Tarentum    and   all   the  Greeks  of  Italy,  and  restore  to 


FIGHTING    ELEPHANT 
MAKING    A    PRISONER.^ 


^  Ilelmcted  head  of  Minerva ;  tlie  reverse,  Hercules  choking  a  Hon,  the  hero's  club,  and 
Minerva's  bird,  the  owl.     Siver  coin. 

^  These  are  the  figures,  the  latter  certainly  false,  given  by  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus. 
^  Gem  in  the  Cabinet  de  France,  No.  1,911  in  Ch.abouillet's  catalogue. 


WAU    \Vn  II    I'YRRHUS,  FROM   280   TO   272.  4G7 

the  Samnites,  Apulians,  Lucanians,  and  Bruttians  tlic  cities  and 
lands  which  they  had  taken  from  them.  In  exchange,  he  offered 
his  alliance  and  the  ransom  of  their  prisoners.  Cineas,  whose 
eloquence,  it  is  said,  had  gained  for  rynluis  more  cities  than  his 
arms,  was  charged  with  submitting  these  proposals  to  Rome.  He 
brought  briljes  for  the  senators,  and  rich  robes  for  their  wives ; 
but  he  found  nobody  venal.  Yet  the  Senate  was  inclined  for  peace. 
The  aged  Appius,  now  blind,  heard  of  this  with  indignation.  He 
had  himself  led  to  the  senate-house  :  "  I  was  sorry  at  not  being 
able  to  see,"  said  he :  "  to-day  I  am  sorry  that  I  can  hear ;"  and 
after  havmg  spoken  strongly  against  what  lie  termed  a  cowardly 
act,  he  ended  with  these  words,  which  became  ever  afterward  a 
rule  for  the  guidance  of  the  Senate  :  "  Let  Pyrrhus  leave  Italy, 
and  then  we  shall  talk  of  treating  with  him."  ^  Cineas  was 
ordered  to  leave  Rome  the  same  day.  Before  his  eyes  two 
legions  were  formed  solely  of  volunteers.  The  sight  of  this 
great  cit}^,  of  its  austere  manners,  of  this  patriotic  zeal,  struck 
the  Greek  with  admiration,  brought  up,  as  he  had  ])een,  in 
the  midst  of  the  base  intrigues,  the  venality  and  decay  of  his 
own  country.  "  Tfie  Senate,"  said  he  on  his  return,  "  seemed 
to  me  an  assemljly  of  kings.  To  fight  with  the  Romans  is 
to  fight  the  Hydra.^  Their  numbers,  like  their  courage,  is 
unbounded." 

Pyrrhus  tried  a  bold  move.  He  left  Lucania,  avoided  Laevi- 
nus,  wdio  was  covering  Naples  and  Capua,  threw  himself  into 
the  Valley  of  the  Liris,  took  Fregellae,  Anagni,  Praeneste,  and 
pushed  his  advanced  posts  to  within  six  leagues  of  Rome ;  l)ut 
nothing  stirred  around  him,  not  a  city  revolted,  and  Laevinus  was 
approaching  ;  Coruncanius,  who  had  just  signed  a  peace  with  the 
Etruscans,  was  bringing  from  Etruria  another  consular  army,  and 
in  the  city  new  legions  were  being  drilled. 

Before  this  threatening  circle  could  close  around  him,  Pyrrhus 
escaped  with  his  booty,  and  returned  to  winter  at  Tarentum.  The 
legions  also  went  into  winter-quarters,  except  those  which  had 
been    defeated    at    Heraclea.     As   a   punishment   for    their   defeat, 

*  Cic,  (le  Sen.  6.     This  speech  of  Appius  was  still  extant  in  Cicero's  time. 
2  Plut.,  Pijrrh.  19.     See  in  Horace  {Od.  IV.  iv.  .57,  Gl)  the  beautiful  comparison,  Duris  ut 
ilex  ....  Noii  hydra  sccto  corpure  firmior,  etc. 


468     ■  CONQUEST   OF  ITALY. 

they  were  made  to  stay  in  the  enemy's  territory,  living  on  what 
they  could  plunder. 

The  Senate,  nevertheless,  decided  to  ransom  the  prisoners. 
These  were,  for  the  most  part,  cavalry,  whom  their  horses,  being 
scared  by  the  elephants,  had  thrown.  They  belonged,  besides,  to 
the  best  houses  in  the  city.  Three  commissioners  went  to  treat 
of  their  ransom  or  exchange,  Aemilius  Papus,  Corn.  Dolabella, 
and  Fabricius,  the  hero  of  the  legends,  which  we  are  compelled 
to  follow  during  this  period,  when  Dionysius  and  Livy  fail  us, 
and  after  which  Polybius  begins.  Pyrrhus  refused ;  but,  from 
esteem  for  Fabricius,  whom  he  in  vain  tried  to  bribe,  he  allowed 
his  prisoners  to  go  to  Rome  to  keep  the  Saturnalia.  Not 
one  of  them  failed  to  return.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  279  he 
resumed  hostilities  in  Apulia,  and  besieged  Asculum,  which  the 
two  consuls,  Sulpicius  Saverrio  and  P.  Decius,  determined  to  save 
by  a  battle.  The  report  went  abroad,  it  is  said,  in  the  two 
armies  that  Decius  would  imitate  the  example  of  his  father  and 
grandfather.  The  King  gave  his  troops  a  description  of  the 
costume  which  the  consul  would  wear,  and  gave  orders  to  seize 
him  alive  and  unwounded.  At  the  same  time  he  warned  the 
Roman  generals  that  after  the  battle  he  would  put  the  devoted  to 
an  ignominious  death,  as  a  man  practising  sorcery  and  waging 
unfair  war.^ 

The  fragment  of  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus,  found  lately 
at  Mount  Athos,  does  not  say  a  word  of  the  death  of  Decius,^  but 
relates  the  battle  in  a  way  which  seems  to  indicate  a  sort  of 
official  despatch.  It  is  indeed  probable  that  Dionysius,  who  knew 
the  Commentaries  written  l)y  Pyrrhus,  had  Ijorrowed  from  them,  at 
least  partly,  this  account  of  the  battle,  which  we  give  abridged.^ 
"  Heralds  had  fixed  beforehand  the  time  and  place  of  combat.     The 

'  Zonaras,  viii.  5. 

2  Valerius  Max.  (V.  iv.  5,  6)  speaks  only  of  the  Decii,  whose  death  in  the  Latin  war  and  in 
the  Etruscan  we  have  related.  At  Asculum  Dionysius  shows  the  two  consuls  acting  in  concert 
right  to  the  end  of  the  battle.  Cicero  does  the  same  in  de  Offic.  (iii.  4)  and  de  Senect.  (20)  ;  but 
in  Tusc.  Dhp.  (i.  37)  and  in  r/e  Finibus  (ii.  19)  he  admits  the  death  of  three  Decii.  These 
discrepancies  confirm  the  opinion  of  Valerius  Maxinuis  and  Dionysius. 

3  Dionysius  and  Plutarch  cite  the  Commcntarh-x  (JjTTuixvi]fj.aTa)  of  Pyrrhus.  He  had  like- 
wise written  a  treatise  on  the  art  of  war,  which  Cicero  rea<l.  {Fam.  ix.  25.)  [I  have  even 
abridged  it  further  in  the  translation,  as  the  details  are  quite  conventional,  and  of  no  moment  in 
explaining  to  us  the  real  points  of  strategy  employed  by  either  side.  —  Erf.] 


AVAR   WITH   PYERHUS,  FROM   280   TO   272.  469 

Macedonian  infantry  were  on  the  right  with  the  Italian  mercenaries 
and  the  auxiliaries  of  Bruttiura  and  Lucania;  the  Aetolians  and 
Acarnanians  filled  the  centre.  The  left  wing  was  formed  by  the 
Samnite  battalions.  The  cavalry,  elephants,  and  light-armed  soldiers 
covered  the  two  extremities  of  the  line,  which  reached  a  terrace  of 
land  raised  above  the  plain.  A  reserve  of  two  thousand  cavalry 
was  under  the  direct  orders  of  Pyrrhus.  The  consuls  adopted  a 
similar  order.  In  the  space  between  the  four  legions,  they  placed 
the  contingents  from  Latium  and  Campania  and  their  other  allies. 
They  distributed  equally  their  cavalry  on  the  two  flanks  of  the 
army.  Three  hundred  four-wheeled  war-chariots,  bristling  with 
scythes  and  lances,  were  intended  to  take  part  this  time  in  the 
action.  The}^  had  been  furnished  Avith  long  movable  poles,  carry- 
ing at  one  end  bundles  of  tow  steeped  in  pitch,  in  order  that 
when  in  flames  the  smoke  and  the  smell  would  rout  the 
elephants. 

"  Pyrrhus  had  70,000  infantry,  16,000  of  whom  wei'e  Greeks, 
who  had  crossed  the  Ionian  Sea ;  the  consuls  had  nearly  as  many, 
of  whom  20,000  were  Roman  citizens  and  8,000  horse.  The  King 
had  rather  more  cavalry,  and  nineteen  elephants. 

"  On  the  signal  being  given,  the  Greeks  sounded  the  paean,  and 
the  cavalry  opened  the  action.  In  the  royal  army  the  prize  for 
valor  was  gained  by  the  Macedonians,  who  made  the  first  legion 
and  the  Latin  allies  retreat ;  in  the  Roman  army  it  was  merited 
by  the  second  legion,  who  drove  back  the  Molossi,  Thesprotes,  and 
Chaonians. 

"  The  battle  was  maintained  with  this  alternation  of  diverse 
fortune,  when  an  unexpected  succor  reached  the  Romans.  A  body 
of  four  thousand  infantry  and  four  hundred  horsemen  from  the 
city  of  Arpi,  seeking  to  join  the  consuls,  reached  the  high  grounds 
at  the  rear  of  the  King's  camp,  and  attacked  it.  Warned  by  a 
soldier,  Pyrrhus  ordered  his  bravest  horse  to  hasten  to  the  camp 
with  some  elephants,  and  drive  away  the  pillagers.  But  the  latter 
had  already  set  fire  to  it ;  and,  on  seeing  the  troops  despatched 
against  them,  they  retired  to  a  steep  hill,  which  the  cavalry  were 
unable  to  climb. 

"  However,  m  the  plain  the  fight  continued.  The  Kmg  was  the 
first  to  grow  tired,  and  began,  at  the  decline  of  day,  to  withdraw. 


470   • 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


The  Romans  also  withdrew ;  they  crossed  the  river,  and  returned 
to  their  camp.  Pyrrhus  did  not  find  his  own  again ;  the  tents  and 
his  baggage  were  burned,  and  many  of  the  wounded  perished  through 
failure  of  succor ;  ^  but  he  remained  master  of  the  field  of  battle." 

If  the  Romans  were  worsted,  they  had,  at  all  events,  yielded 
a  victory  dearly  bought  (279).^ 

For  Pyrrhus  this  war  was  decidedly  very  serious  and  very 
slow.  He  desired  nothing  more  than  a  pretext  to  give  it  up  with 
honor.  Fabricius  having  forewarned  him  that  his  physician, 
Philip,  sought  to  poison  him,  he  sent  back  all  the  prisoners  with- 
out ransom  (278).^  After  this  exchange  of  amenities  it  was  hard 
to  fight  any  longer.  So,  leaving  Milo  in  the  citadel  of  Tarentum, 
and  his  son  Alexander  at  Locri,  he  crossed  into  Sicily,  whither  the 
Greeks  had  invited  him  against  the  Mamertines  and  Carthaginians. 


II.   Ptrrhus  in  Sicily  ;  Capture  of  Tarentum  (272). 


Carthage  had  recently  sent  a  fleet  to  Ostia  of  a  hundred  and 
twenty  galleys,  offering  help  to  the  Senate  against 
Pyrrhus.  The  Senate  had  declined  it,  at  the  same 
time  renewing  their  ancient  alliance.  The  two 
r('pul)lics  seemed  to  have  then  the  same  interests; 
they  struggled  against  the  same  enemies :  the  one 
against  the  Greeks  of  Italy,  the  other  against 
those  of  Sicily.  The  Carthaginians  were  again 
besieging  Syracuse.  It  is  to  the  succor  of  this 
city  that  Pyrrhus,^  as  son-in-law  of  Agathocles, 
He  raised  the  blockade,  and  drove  the  Africans  back 


ALEXANDER    II., 
KINO    OF    EPIRUS.* 


was  invited. 

^  Dionys.,  Ant.  Rom.,  excerpta  ex  Ubro,  xx.  1,  3. 

^  According  to  the  Koman  anualists,  their  countrymen  bad  made  a  great  carnage  of  the 
King's  troops.  A  contemporary,  Ilieronymus  of  Cardia,  following  the  Commentaries  of  Pyrrhus, 
makes  the  loss  of  the  Romans  six  thousand  men,  that  of  the  E])irotes  three  thousand  five 
hundred  and  six.     [Cf.  jMiiller,  Frag.  Hist.  Graec.  ii.  454.  —  Ed.'] 

^  These  details  are  too  strongly  out  of  character  with  the  wars  wliich  precede  or  follow  and 
with  ancient  manners,  which  possess  nothing  chivalrous  in  them,  to  be  accepted  without 
suspicion.  The  story  of  Pyrrhus'  physician  is  an  evident  reminiscence  of  the  story  of 
Alexander's   physician. 

*  Alexander,  son  of  Pyrrhus  and  Larissa,  with  a  head-dress  from  the  hide  of  an  elephant's 
head.     Gem  from  the  Cabinet  de  France,  No.  2,050  in  Chabouillet's  catalogue. 

'  Pvrrbus  had  married  his  daughter  Larissa  or  Lanessa ;   cf.  Diod.,  xxii.  14. 


WAE  WITH  PYREHUS,  FROM  280  TO  272.  471 

from  port  to  port  as  far  as  Lilybaeum,  which  he  could  not  take. 
'I'hcre,  as  in  Italj-,  after  victories  arose  misunderstanding  with  his 
allies  and  the  tediousness  of  a  war  which  would  not  end.  Pyrrhus 
had  lost  Cineas.  Urged  on  by  new  counsellors  to  violent  measures, 
he  severely  punished  some  acts  of  perfidy,  and  alienated  by  his 
haughtiness  the  Sicilians,  to  whom  he  wished  to  give  as  their 
king  his  son  Alexander.  Besides,  he  had  remaining  very  few  of 
his  veteran  Epirotes,  as  the  bravest  had  perished  at  Heraclea, 
Asculum,  and  in  the  battles  against  the  Carthaginians.  With  an 
army  of  Greek  and  barbarian  mercenaries,  he  did  not  feel  himself 
secure  against  the  Sicilians.  The  entreaties  of  the  Italians,  hard 
pressed  by  Eome,  decided  him ;  and  for  the  second  time  he  left 
his  enterprise  uncompleted  (278-276). 

Every  year  since  his  departure  had  been  marked  by  the  suc- 
cesses of  the  Romans.  In  278  Fabricius  had  beaten  the  Lucanians, 
Bruttians,  Tarentines,  Salentines,  and  compelled  Heraclea  to  enter 
into  alliance  with  Rome.  In  277  Rufinus  and  Bubulcus  had  com- 
pleted  the    devastation    of    Samnium,    and 

forced  the  remainder  of  the  population  to      /?$'^*^\       i^S®^^ 
seek,    like    wild    beasts,  a   refuge    in    the     ( 1  ^  %_ -■i'^Wr™P\^&i^l 
forests    and    on    the     highest    mountains.      \^^f^      ^^^^^M 
Then   Rufinus   had   gone   to   capture  Cro-         ^^^^  ^^  beneventum.^ 
ton  and  Locri.     The  following  year  there 

was  a  fresh  victory  over  all  those  nations,  who  then  recalled 
Pyrrhvis.  At  the  crossing  of  the  straits  the  Carthaginians 
beat  his  fleet  and  captured  his  military  chest ;  then  he  en- 
countered the  Mamertines,  who  had  reached  Italy  before  him, 
and  through  whom  he  was  compelled  to  force  a  passage.  One 
of  them,  of  gigantic  stature,  was  eager  in  his  pursuit,  when 
Pyrrhus  turned  about  and  with  an  axe  cleft  him  from  the  head 
to  the  saddle.  At  Locri,  which  he  re-entered,  he  pillaged 
Proserpine's  temple  to  pay  his  mercenaries.  But  this  sacrilege, 
he  himself  said,  drew  down  on  his  arms  the  anger  of  the 
goddess,^  and   caused   his  fortune    to   fail   at   Beneventum.     Curius 

1  Coin  of  Beneventum,  BENEVENTOD.  Lanrel-crownetl  head  of  Apollo;  on  the 
reverse,  nPOnOM,  a  word  that  Eokhel  (vol.  i.  \).  102)  believes  to  be  the  name  of  a  magistrate. 
A  horse  at  large  ;  above,  a  pentagon.     Bronze  coin. 

^  'Qs  .  .  .  Kal  avTos  6  Hvppos  iv  rots  (Slots  inrofiUTjfiatTt  ypdfpei*  (Dionys.,  Ant,  Rom*, 
exc.  ex  libra,  xx.   10.) 


472    ■ 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


COIN   OF    ANTIGONUS    GONATAS.'^ 


Dentatus  was  then  in  command  of  the  Roman  army.  The  legion- 
aries had  become  accus- 
tomed to  the  Lucanian 
oxen^  as  they  named 
the  elephants ;  they 
knew  how  to  keep  them 
off  by  a  shower  of 
darts,  or  by  burning 
brands :  their  victory 
was  complete.  Even  the  royal  camp  fell  into  their  hands  (275). 
Pyrrhus  was  unable  longer  to  keep  in  Italy ;  he 
left  a  garrison  at  Tarentum,  and  crossed  into  Epirus 
(274)  with  an  army  reduced  to  eight  thousand 
men,  and  without  money  to  pay  it.  He  led  it 
to  fresh  enterprises,  tried  to  reconquer  Macedonia 
from  Antigonus  Gonatas,  was  proclaimed  king  there 
PTOLEMY  for  the  second  time,  then  met  an  ignoble  death,  at 
PHILADELPHU8.5  |;jjg  attack  ou  Argos,  from  the  hand  of  an  old 
woman   (272). 

The  following  inscription  has  been  recently  found  at  Dodona  :  * 
"  King  Pyrrhus  and  the  Epirotes  have  dedicated  to   Jupiter  Na'ios 

these  spoils  of  the  Romans  and  their 
allies."  Whilst  these  lying  trophies 
were  hung  up  in  the  most  venerable  of 
the  sanctuaries  of  Greece,  Curius  was 
triumphing  at  Rome  on  a  car  drawn  by 
four  elephants,  and  an  ambassador  from 
the  King  of  Egypt,  Ptolemy  Philadelj)hus,  came  to  congratulate 
the  Senate,  and  to  ask  its  friendship.  The  alliance  of  the  two 
states  became  a  rule   of  national  policy,  at  Rome  as  at  Alexandria. 


DEMETRIUS    POLIORCETES.^ 


1  [A  formation  like  turkey-cock  or  Nil-pferd.  —  Ed.'] 

'^  Coin  of  Antigonus  Gonatas.  Bust  of  Pan,  with  the  pedum  (see  p.  262)  on  a  Macedo- 
nian shield;  the  reverse,  BASIAEDS  ANTirONOY.  Minerva  walking;  beside  her,  a  helmet  and 
monogram.     Tetradraclniia  in  silver  of  Antigonus  Gonatas. 

^  From  the  quadruple  .stater  of  gold  of  Ptolemy  Soter,  Berenice,  Ptolemy  Philadelphus, 
and  Arsinoe. 

*  By  M.  Carapanos,  the  able  and  learned  excavator  of  Dodona,  the  results  of  which  lie 
has  j)ublished  in  a  magnificent  work. 

6  On  the  right,  the  head  of  Demetrius  Poliorcetes  ;  the  reverse,  BA2IAEQ2  AHMHTPIOY  : 
a  horse-soldier  (Demetrius?)  with  a  JNIacedonian  helmet  and  armed  with  a  lance.  Gold 
stater. 


WAR   WITH   PYEEHUS,    FEOM   280   TO   272. 


473 


Some  years  before,  Demetrius  Poliorcetes  had  sent  back  to  the 
Senate  some  prisoners  made  on  tlie  Italian  ships  whicli  cruised 
in  Greek  waters.  Thus,  the  princes  of  tlie  East  turned  their 
eyes  towards  this  new  power,  which  they  saw  seizing  the 
dominion  of  Italy.  But  in  Pyrrhus  the  Romans  had  con- 
({uered  in  advance  all  the  successors  of  Alexander.  The  Romans 
had  triumphed  over  the  Macedonian  phalanx  and  the  elephants, 
those  living  engines  of  war  belonging  to  the  Asiatic  and  African 
armies. 

Hostilities,  but  of  no  importance,  lasted  for  some  years  longer 
in  the    south  of   Italy.      A  victory  of  Papirius   Cursor  and  Spurius 


QTJINCUSSIS    WITH    THE    FIGURE    OF    AN   ELEPHANT.' 

Carvilius  disarmed  the  last  Samnite  bands.  This  people  at  length 
submitted,  and  gave  numerous  hostages.  It  was  seventy  years 
ago  since  the  battle  of  Mount  Gaurus  had  been  fought ;  and 
in  this  long  war  the  consuls  obtained  the  triumph  twenty-four 
times. 

The  same  year  Papirius  received  the  submission  of  the  Lucanians, 
and  Milo  (272)  delivered  up  Tarentum,  the  walls  of  which  were 
destroyed,  its  arms  and  vessels  taken  away.  The  citadel  was 
preserved,  into  which  the  Senate  put  a  garrison  to  hold  the  city, 
which  was  condemned  to  an  annual  tribute,  and  to  keep  away 
the  Carthaginians  from  the  best  part  of  South  Italy.  Pyrrhus 
had,  in  fact,  hardly  left,  before  distrust  grew  up  between  the  two 
republics.       During    the    siege    of    Tarentum    by    tlie    Romans    a 


*  This  money,  worth  five-twelfths  of  a  libra,  was  coined  in  memory  of  the  victory  gained 
OTer  Pyrrhus. 


474  CONQUEST   OF  ITALY, 

Carthaginian  fleet  appeared  outside  the  port,^  offering  assistance. 
Papirius  had  done  all  he  could  to  keep  off  this  formidable  aid, 
and  the  city  owed  to  these  fears  the  fact  of  its  being  less  harshly 
treated.  Before  eight  years  were  gone  by,  this  mistrust  changed 
into  a  terrible  war. 

The  struggle  for  the  rule  of  Italy  was  ended.  Measures 
rather  of  policy  than  of  war  will  account  for  some  agitations, 
which  ax"e  the  last  paroxysms  of  this  great  body  of  Italian  people. 
The  Senate  knows  that  there  are  no  enemies  to  be  despised,  and 
that  great  conflagrations  are  often  produced  from  mere  sparks. 
Placed  in  the  centre  of  Italy,  it  could  hear  the  least  sound 
and  watch  every  movement.  Nothing  escaped  this  surveillance, 
which  never  slept  in  times  of  success,  and  as  soon  as  danger 
showed  itself,  strong  forces  were  at  once  sent  to  the  threatened 
point. 

Thus,  in  the  year  that  followed  the  capture  of  Tarentum,  the 
consul  Genucius  went  to  demand  reckoning  for  their  misdeeds  of 
the  revolted  legionaries  of  Rhegium.  Three  hundred  of  them, 
being  sent  to  Rome,  were  scourged  and  beheaded.  The  rest  had 
almost  all  perished  in  the  attack.^ 

In  269  a  Samnite  hostage,  Lollius,  escaped  from  Rome,  col- 
lected a  few  adventurers,  and  tried  to  raise  the  Caraceni  in  the 
high  valley  of  the  Sagrus.  The  two  consuls  at  once  sent  against 
him  quickly  stifled  this  re-opening  war. 

The  year  after,  it  is  the  Picentes  who  are  strugglmg  with 
two  other  consular  armies,  and  who  are  compelled  to  submit  at 
the  mercy  of  the  Senate  ;  then  the  Sarsinates  and  the  whole 
Umbrian  nation,  which  receives  the  final  stroke ;  and  lastly,  in  the 
south  of  Italy  the  Salentines  and  Messapians,  who  suffer  the  attack 
of  the  legions  less  on  account  of  their  alliance  with  Pyrrhus  than 
because  they  possess  the  port  of  Brundusium,  the  best  passage 
from  Italy  to  Greece.  Already  the  Senate  turned  its  eyes  in  this 
direction.      Some  disturbances  were  arismg  also  in   certain  villages 


'  There  are,  as  to  this  fact,  great  variations  between  Orosius  (iv.  2),  Zonaras  (viii.  6), 
the  Epitome  of  Livy  (xiv.),  and  Dion  Cassius.  In  Livy  (xxi.  10),  Hanno  gives  as  the  cause 
of  the  First  Punic  War  an  attack  on  Tarentum  projected  by  the  Carthaginians ;  but  it  is 
Livy  who  makes  him  say  it. 

2  Polyb.,  i.  7 ;  Val.  Max.,  U.  vii.  15. 


WAR  WITH  PYRRHUS,   FROM  280  TO  272.  475 

of  Etruria,  where  two  classes,  the  dominant  and  the  subject,  were 
always  face  to  face ;  the  latter  cultiv^ating  the  earth,  working 
marble  and  iron  for  the  former,  who  lived  in  abundance,  whilst 
the  plebs,  subjected  to  a  sort  of  slavery,  continued  in  wretchedness. 

At  Rome  the  poor  had  reached,  by  a  slow  but  continuous 
progress,  comfort,  political  equality,  and  agreement  with  the  patri- 
cians ;  in  Etruria  they  had  sought  to  bring  about  this  change  by 
violence  and  crime.  This  difference  explains  the  opposite  destinies 
of  the  two  peoples. 

Volsinii,  built  on  a  hill  overlooking  a  beautiful  lake,  was  the 
chief  of  the  Etruscan  cities,^  but  also  one  of  the  most  effemi- 
nate ;  and  its  loose  morals  were  combined  with  the  most  violent 
passions.  A  popular  revolution  deprived  the  nobles  of  their 
liberties,  their  property,  even  the  honor  of  their  families ;  for  their 
daughters  were  compelled  to  marry  the  clients  and  slaves  of  the 
city.  The  nobility  called  in  the  Romans,  who  took  the  city  b}' 
famine  and  destroyed  it  (360),  after  having  carried  away,  Pliny 
assures  us,  two  thousand  statues.  Much  blood  was  shed.  Rome 
made  little  distinction  between  the  slaves  revolted  against  their 
masters,  the  clients  armed  against  their  patrons,  and  the  nobles, 
traitors  to  their  native  land.  The  remnants  of  the  population  were 
forbidden  to  inhabit  the  site  of  the  old  Etruscan  metropolis.  Even 
the  ruins  of  this  powerful  city  have  disappeared. 

This  expedition  was  the  last  clash  of  arms  heard  in  Italy  till 
the  explosion  of  the  Punic  wars  (265).  But  these  are  impend- 
ing. The  military  habits  acquired  by  the  Romans  durmg  these 
seventy  years  of  fighting,  this  pillage  of  Italy,  which  had  enriched 
the  city,  the  nobility,  and  people,  —  these  victories,  which  had 
raised  the  ambition,  the  patriotism,  and  pride  of  the  nation, 
were  to  commit  Rome  to  eternal  war.  The  genius  of  conquest 
henceforward  inspired  the   senate-house. 

1  Caput  Etruriae.  (Livy,  x.  37.)  The  temple  of  Voltumna,  whore  the  hieumons  assembled 
yearly,  was  situated  on  its  territory.  The  lempio  di  Norzia,  to  be  seen  at  Bolsena  near  the 
Florence  gate,  is  Roman  work.  The  Etruscan  city  was  on  the  height  at  the  place  called  (7 
Piazzano,  above  the  amphitheatre  of  Bolsena  (Dennis,  Etruria,  i.  oOS)  ;  the  Roman  city  was 
built  at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  It  was  a  custom  of  the  Romans  to  compel  the  vanquished  to 
abandon  cities  built  on  heights,  and  descend  into  the  plain. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

OEGANIZATION  OF  ITALY  BY  THE  EOMANS. 

I.    The  Freedom  of  the  City,  and  the  Thirty-five  Tribes. 

WHILE  Rome  was  bringing  Italy  into  subjection,  the  Greeks 
were  overturning  the  Persian  monarchy.  To  the  latter, 
a  few  years  in  one  human  life  had  sufficed  to  conquer  from  the 
Adriatic  to  the  Indus.  Rome  required  a  century  to  stretch  from 
the  Rubicon  to  the  Straits  of  Messina.  If  she  advanced  only 
step  by  step,  she  knew  at  least  how  to  keep  what  she  took ; 
while  Greece,  at  the  end  of  a  few  generations,  had  lost  all,  even 
her  liberty. 

In  that  immovable  East,  where  governments  pass  away 
like  the  water  of  the  streams  which  are  lost  in  the  desert, 
but  where  manners  last  like  unchangeable  Nature,  the  rev- 
olution which  transferred  the  empire  from  the  Persians  to  the 
Macedonians  had  no  lasting  results,  and  that  old  world  was  agitated 
only  on  the  surface.  The  Greeks  found  themselves  neither 
numerous  nor  strong  enough  to  organize  after  having  conquered, 
to  establish  after  having  destroyed.  Left,  after  Alexander,  without 
guidance ;  lost,  so  to  speak,  in  the  midst  of  Asiatic  populations,  — 
they  exercised  on  the  latter  only  a  feeble  influence,  and  by  their 
imprudent  divisions  they  encouraged  revolts.  What  the  con- 
queror might  have  perhaps  known  how  to  do,  —  to  bind  together 
all  these  nations,  whose  bonds  the  Persian  monarchy  had  broken 
in  its  fall,  not  one  of  his  successors  attempted.^     There,  as  elsewhere, 

1  [I  need  hardly  say  that  the  text  gives  rather  a  rhetorical  than  an  historical  view  of  the 
Diadochi.  They  each  strove  to  recover  for  themselves  the  whole  dominion  of  Alexander,  —  at 
least  Perdiccas  did,  and  Antigonus,  Demetrius,  and  Seleuciis.  But  they  were  too  evenly  matched, 
and  wore  one  another  out  in  mutual  conflicts.  Ptolemy  alone  of  the  leading  men  confined 
himself  to  Egypt  and  the  surrounding  coast,  and  so  Ilellenized  Egyi)t  very  completely.     But, 


ORGANIZATION  OF  ITALY.  477 

Greece  was  convicted  of  inability  to  organize  anything  great,  out- 
side of  the  petty  states  wliich,  small  as  they  were,  were  yet  too 
large  for  her  philosophers  and  public  men.  In  the  political  world, 
therefore,  there  resulted  from  this  conquest  nothing  but  a  vast 
confusion ;  and  if,  in  morals,  there  grew  up  between  these  men  of 
two  hitherto  separated  worlds,  a  useful  interchange  of  doctrines ; 
if  from  the  comparison  of  their  systems  of  religion  and  philosophy 
there  proceeded  a  rich  intellectual  development,  —  it  was  the  West 
only  that  profited  thereby,  since  only  in  the  West  was  Rome  able 
to  establish  the  order  and  unity  of  power. 

The  Roman  state  grows  slowly.  Her  territory  becomes  wider 
only  as  her  population  augments ;  before  she  makes  a  country  into 
a  province,  she  prepares  long  in  advance  her  support  there ;  she 
creates  therein  a  Roman  population,  —  Roman  either  in  interest 
or  by  origin.  Into  the  midst  of  twenty  independent  nations  she 
throws  out  a  colony,  —  an  advanced  sentinel,  forever  on  guard. 
Of  one  city  she  makes  an  ally  ;  to  another  she  grants  the  honor 
of  living  under  quiritarian  law,  —  here,  with  the  right  of  suffrage, 
there,  with  the  local  government  preserved.  Municipia  of  various 
grades,  Latin  colonies,  Roman  colonies,  prefectures,  allied  cities, 
free  cities,  all  isolated  by  the  difference  in  their  condition,  all 
united  by  then-  equal  dependence  upon  the  Senate,  they  form  a 
great  network  entwined  about  the  Italian  peoples  until  the  day 
when,  without  further  struggles,  the  latter  awake  to  find  them- 
selves subjects  of  Rome.  Let  us  examine  thoroughly  this 
policy  which  made  of  a  little  city  the  greatest  emphe  of  the 
world.-^ 

Ancient  patriotism  had  something  material  and  narrow  in  it.  The 
country  which  a  man  could  see  and  touch,  whose  extent  could  be  em- 
braced with  the  eye  from  the  summit  of  Cape  Sunium,  from  Mount 
Taygetus,  or  from  the  Capitol,  was  the  real  fatherland,  the  hearths 
and  the  altar  for  which  he  ought  to  die :  pro  aris  et  focis.  But 
those  invisible  ties  of  a  common  language,  of  the  same  ideas  and 

indeed,  so  did  the  Seleucidae  Ilellenize  SjTia,  and  even  as  far  as  the  Punjab.  Greek  infhientes 
were  deep  and  lasting.  —  Ed.'] 

^  Tacitus  says  so  {Ann.  xi.  24)  :  Qu'u!  aliud  exilto  Lacedaemoniis  et  Athenie7it>ilms 
fuil,  quanqtiam  armis  pollerent,  ttisi  quod  oictos  pro  alicnif/enii  arccbant?  At  condilor 
no.tiri  Romultis  tantum  sapientia  valuit,  ut  plerosque  popidos  eodem  die  hostes,  dein  cives 
habuerit  (Speech  of  Claudius). 


478     ■  CONQUEST   OF  ITALY. 

sentiments  and  manners  and  interests,  —  this  patriotism,  born  of 
Christian  brotherliood  and  modern  civilization,  was  unknown  in 
antiquity.^  Each  was  of  liis  own  tribe,  his  canton,  or  his  city.  Like 
Sparta,  Athens,  and  Carthage,  lilce  all  the  conquering  republics  of 
antiquity,  Rome  did  not  desire  her  sovereignty  to  pass  beyond  her 
Forum  and  her  senate-house.  These  cities  were  not  capitals,  but  the 
entire  state.  There  were  citizens^  only  inside  these  walls  or  on  the 
narrow  territory  which  lay  around  them ;  beyond  were  only  con- 
quered lands  or  subjects.  Accordingly,  Sparta,  Athens,  and  Carthage, 
which  never  gave  up  this  municipal  pride,  were  never  more  than 
cities,  and  perished.^  Rome,  which  often  forgot  it,  became  a  great 
people,  and  lived  twelve  centuries. 

The  political  wisdom  of  the  Romans  never  rose,  however, 
to  the  idea  of  creating  an  Italian  nation.  To  deprive  the  van- 
quished of  the  right  of  foreign  policy  because  it  was  Rome's 
interest  to  suppress  local  wars  in  Italy,  as  later  on  she  put 
them  down  in  the  world ;  to  place  them  in  varied  conditions 
of  dependence,  so  that  an  unequal  pressure  might  prevent  a 
dangerous  concert ;  in  short,  to  make  use  of  them  to  promote 
Roman  security  and  grandeur  by  requiring  their  assistance  against 
every  foreign  enemy,  —  this  was  the  design  of  the  Senate  when 
the  legions  had  conquered  Italy.  To  comprehend  and  control 
this  situation  the  Senate  had  merely  to  review  its  own  history. 
Two  very  ancient  ideas  inspired  its  conduct.  As  regards  political 
rights,  it  placed  the  Italians,  towards  the  people  of  Rome,  in  the 
position  which  the  plebeians  had  so  long  occupied  in  their  relation 
to  the  patricians,  that  is  to  say,  it  made  them  a  subordinate  people. 

1  [This  ignores  the  Pan-IIelleuic  sentiment  so  prominent  in  the  policy  of  Pericles,  the 
letters  of  Isocrates,  the  speeches  of  Demosthenes,  and  elsewhere.  —  Ed.} 

2  The  maximum  of  the  numher  of  citizens  was  at  Athens  20,000.  (Thucyd.,  ii.  13; 
Demosth.,  ailv.  Aristog.  i. ;  cf.  Boeckh,  i.  7.)  "The  limitation  of  the  number  of  citizens 
was  the  basis  of  the  government  of  Greece."     (Letronne,  Acad,  des  Inscr.  vi.  18G.) 

3  According  to  the  public  law  of  Greece,  the  conquered  were  either  massacred,  as  the 
Plataeans  and  Melians,  or  driven  away,  as  the  Potidaeans,  the  Scyreans,  the  Carians  of 
Lemnos,  etc.  (Thucyd.,  ii.  27 ;  Diod.  Sic,  xii.  44 ;  Corn.  jSTep.,  dm.  2,  and  Mill.  2)  ; 
or  enslaved,  as  the  Dolopes,  the  Pelasgians  of  Lemnos  and  Tmbros  (Thucyd.,  i.  98 ;  Diod., 
xi.  60)  and  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Crete  under  the  Dorians  (Athen.,  vi.) ;  or  made  slaves 
of  the  soil,  as  the  Helots,  the  Penestae,  the  Maryandinians  among  the  Heraeleotes  of  Pontus, 
the  Gymnesii  at  Argos.  (IVlliller,  Dor.  ii.  p.  55.)  Others,  more  fortunate,  were  subjected 
only  to  tribute  and  some  humiUating  conditions,  as  the  Messenians,  the  Lesbians,  etc. 
(Paus.,  Messen. ;  Thucyd.,  iii.  50.)  All  this  was  far  from  the  state  of  things  in  the  Roman 
policy. 


ORGANIZATION   OF  ITALY.  479 

As  regards  the  common  defence,  the  Senate  imposed  on  them  the 
part  wliich  the  Latins  and  Hernicans  had  filled  after  the  treaty 
of  Spurius  Cassius;  it  used  them  as  guardians  of  its  fortunes  and 
instruments  of  its  power. 

The  origin  of  Rome,  in  fact,  its  history  and  policy,  which 
under  tlie  kings  had  opened  the  city  to  the  conquered,  under  the 
consuls  the  Senate  to  the  plebeians,  had  taught  the  Senate  that 
force  alone  establishes  nothing  durable,  and  that  the  vanquished 
cannot  be  trampled  under  foot  for  ever.  Implacable  on  the  field 
of  battle,  Rome  showed  no  pity  either  for  the  hostile  chiefs  who 
fell  into  her  hands  or  for  the  city  handed  over  to  her  will.  She 
massacred  in  cold  blood,  and  made  wars  of  extermination,  at  the 
end  of  which  whole  peoples  had  disappeared.  In  other  cases  she 
took  a  part  of  their  territory :  that  is  ancient  war  in  all  its 
severity.  But  after  the  victory  there  is  no  tyrannical  oppression ; 
she  leaves  to  her  sul)jects  their  laws,  their  magistrates,  their  re- 
ligion, —  in  fact,  all  their  municipal  life ;  no  tribute,  —  that  lastmg 
and  painful  mark  of  defeat  and  servitude  ;  no  fiscal  extortions  or 
arbitrary  levies  of  soldiers  ;  in  case  of  a  common  danger  they 
furnish  subsidies  of  men  and  money  according  to  rules  established 
for  the  Romans  themselves.  If  they  have  lost  their  independence 
they  have  become  members  of  a  powerful  state,  which  reflects  on 
them  the  glory  of  its  name ;  and  when  the  wounds  made  by  war 
are  healed,  they  are  certainly  more  happy  than  before  their  defeat, 
since  they  enjoy  peace  and  security  in  place  of  frequent  struggles 
and  perpetual  alarms.^ 

The  sovereign  people  of  the  Quirites  is  always  that  of  the 
Forum,  and  it  can  exercise  its  rights  only  in  the  sacred  enclosure 
of  the  j^omoen'um  ;  ^  l)ut  into  this  enclosure  the  vanquished  are  by 
degrees   admitted,   according    as   they  become    gradually  penetrated 

*  Dionys.  (i.  89)  says  of  Rome:  KoworaTTjv  re  noXeav  koi  (piXavBpiaTvnrdrrjv;  ff.  ihhi.,  ii.  IG, 
and  Sail.,  Cat.  6;  Flor.,  i.  1  ;  Livy,  passim;  Tac,  Ami.  xi.  24;  and  Cicero  in  a  beautiful 
passage  (de  Leyibus,  ii.  2)  and  in  pro  Balbo  (13):  Romulus  docuil  eliam  hoslibus  rccipiendis 
augeri  hanc  civitatein^portcrc.  Cuj'us  auctoritate  .  .  .  nunquam  est  intermissa  largitio  el  com- 
municatio  civitalis.  [All  these  ])anegyrifs  on  the  Roman  peace  ignore  the  fact  that  Italy  as 
a  whole  did  not  prosper  under  this  rule.  It  became  depopidated  more  and  more,  and  pro- 
vincial life  became  gradually  sadder  and  duller.  The  loss  of  political  lilierty,  with  the  imju'tus 
it  gives  to  intellect  and  to  material  enterprise,  is  never  counterbalanced  by  the  so-called 
blessings  of  an  ignoble  and  compulsory  peace.  —  Ed.} 

^  Roma  sola  urbs,  cetera  oppida.      (Isid.,  viii.  6.) 


480 


CONQUEST   OF  ITALY. 


with  the  Roman  spirit.  The  bravest  and  nearest  entered  it  first. 
It  was,  without  doubt,  for  the  Romans  a  partition  of  the  profits 
of  victory ;  so  also  was  it,  by  doubUng  their  number,  an  assurance 
<jf  new  victories  and  durable  conquests.  Between  384  and  264 
twelve  tribes  were  created,  and  the  ager  Romanus  spread  from 
the  Ciminian  forest  to  the  middle  of  Campania.  On  this  territory 
the  censors  reckoned  292,3-34  fighting  men,'  —  i.  e.,  a  population 
of  1,200,000  souls  close  around  Rome,  which  was    certainly  strong 


CHEST   OF    PRAENESTE.^ 


enough  to  keep  the  rest  of  Italy  in  awe.''^  Two  centuries  before,  the 
military  population  did  not  exceed  124,214  men.*  In  spite  of  the 
losses  from  the  Gallic  and  Samnite  wars,  the  force  of  Rome  in 
citizens,   and   consequently  in    soldiers,   increased  in  the    proportion 

'  Census  made  at  the  commenceraent  of  the  First  Punic  War.  (Epit.  Livy,  xvi. ;  cf. 
Eutrop.,  ii.  10.) 

-  This  chest,  taken  from  the  Atlas  of  the  Biill.  Arrli.,  vol.  viii.  pi.  8,  has  unfortunately 
been  cut,  no  doulit  to  lessen  its  height.  The  part  which  remains  represents  Aeneas  killing 
Turnus,  Camilla  on  her  chariot,  etc.  It  is  the  old  legend  of  the  Trojan  origin  of  Rome, 
treated  by  a  Greek  artist.  W'c  shall  see  later  at  what  period  the  legend  became  established 
in  Latium.  '•* 

*  I  follow,  for  the  evaluation  of  the  whole  ])0|)ulation,  the  rule  adopted  by  Clinton  in  his 
Fasti  Hellenici.  Ihne  {Rom.  Gtscli.  i.  465)  stretches  these  figures,  and  reaches  a  population 
of  a  million  and  a  haU,  for  which  he  gives  half  a  million  of  slaves.  I  think  both  these 
numbers  e.\aggerated,  especially  the  latter. 

<  Census  of  463  (Livy,  iii.  ?,).  The  number  in  338  was  still  only  IGti.OOO,  before  the 
great  annexations  which  the  success  of  the  war,  then  commencing,  admitted. 


OEGANIZATION  OF  ITALY.  481 

of  1  to  3.  The  old  Roman  stock  counts  for  scarcely  half  of  this 
number.  But  its  21  tribes^  gave  21  votes,  and  the  new  citizens, 
perhaps  more  numerous,  counted  as  12  only ;  the  districts  of  South 
Etruria,  Roman  since  387  B.  c,  had  4  votes ;  the  Latins,  Volscians, 
Ausones,  and  the  Aequians,  2  each  ;  the  Sabines  in  241  formed  no 
more  than  two  tribes.^  Let  us  add  that  the  distance  from  Rome 
of  the  new  citizens  did  not  permit  them,  without  costly  journeys, 
to  attend  the  comitia  to  vote  in  the  centuries.  Thus  while 
doubluig  her  military  strength,  while  declaring  the  peoples  estab- 
lished around  lier  as  far  as  50,  60,  or  100  miles  from  her  walls 
members  of  the  sovereign  state,  Rome  prudently  reserved  to  her 
ancient  citizens  their  legitimate  influence.  She  satisfies  the  vanity 
of  her  suljjects  without  altering  the  fundamental  nature  of  her  con- 
stitution ;  she  remains  a  city,  and  is  already  almost  a  nation ;  she 
has  the  strength  of  numbers  and  that  of  unity. 

This  union,  however,  was  never  so  complete  but  that  there 
remained  at  the  very  gates  of  Rome  some  independent  towns.  In 
every  direction  the  territory  of  the  35  tribes,  arjcr  Romanus,  was 
intersected  b}'  foreign  territories,  ager  peregrinus.  At  Tibur,  at 
Praeneste,  the  Roman  exiles  found  an  inviolable  asylum ;  for  the  law 
which  interdicted  them  fire  -and  water  was  unable  to  touch  them 
beyond  the  lands  of  the  Repuljlic.^  While  making  their  own  Forum 
the  only  theatre  of  political  discussions,  the  only  place  from  the 
Umbro  to  the  Vulturnus  where  lofty  ambition  and  great  talents 
could  find  scope,  the  Senate  Avished  to  leave  some  encouragement 
to  this  old  love  of  the  Italians  for  municipal  independence. 
Many  a  town  of  Latium.  nomen  Latinum*  still  continued  a  foreign 

'  Four  urban  :  the  Efquiline,  Colline,  Suhuran,  and  Palatine  ;  17  rural:  AeniiUa,  Camilla, 
Claudia,  Cornelia,  Crustumina,  Fabia,  Valeria,  Horatia,  Lemonia,  Menenia,  Papiria,  Pallia, 
Pupinia,  Romilia,  Seryia,  Veturia,  and  Vollinia.  The  four  urban  tribes  have  geographical 
names ;  the  seventeen  rural  tribes,  one  onl}'  excepted,  Crustumina,  bear  the  names  of 
patrician   gentes. 

^  Etruscan.:  Stcllatina,  Tromentina,  Sabatina,  Arniensis,  in  387  (Livy,  vi.  5);  Volscian  : 
Pomptina  and  Publilia,  in  358  (Livy,  vii.  15);  Latins:  Maecia  and  Scaptia,  in  332  (Livy, 
viii.  17);  Ausones,  Oufentina  and  Falerina,  in  318  (Livy,  i.x.  20) ;  Aequi,  Anicnuix  and 
Terentina,  in  299  (Livy,  x.  9) ;    Sabines,  Velina  and  Quirinn,  in  241   (Livy,  Epit.,  xix.). 

^  The  same  at  Naples. 

■*  The  nomen  Lalinum  now  includes  what  remained  of  the  ancient  Latin  peoples  not  vet 
attached  to  the  Roman  city,  and  those  who  had  received  the  jus  Latii,  as  colonies  of  the  Latin 
name  ;  but  among  these  people  "  of  the  Latin  name  "  there  were  also  differences  :  some  kept 
some  of  the  privileges  from  the  ancient  alliance  concluded  by  Sp.  Cassius  :  others,  who  jjerhaps 

VOL.   I.  31 


482  .  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

city,  and  yet  attached  by  divers  bonds  to  the  great  association 
of  peoples  and  cities  which  formed  the  Roman  Republic.  Less 
hardly  treated  in  general  than  the  other  peoples  of  Italy,  sur- 
rounded by  Roman  citizens,  possessing  the  same  material  interests, 
the  same  language,  the  same  manners,  often  the  same  civil  laws, 
with  the  right  of  trade,  jus  commercii,  and  many  facilities  for 
obtaining  the  freedom  of  the  city,  the  Latins  had  no  other  feelings 
than  those  of  Roman  citizens.  The  election  of  their  magistrates 
and  senators  (decuriones),  the  liberty  left  them  of  making  laws  of 
local  interest,  of  administering  their  revenues,  of  coining,^  of  watch- 
ing over  the  worship  and  police  of  their  city,^  occupied  men's  life  in 
these  little  cities.  Their  political  speaking,  less  far-reaching  than 
the  Roman  debates,  was  not  less  impassioned.  Before  seeing  at 
Rome  the  rivalry  of  Marius  and  Sylla,  Cicero  had  seen  at  Arpinum 
the  hereditary  struggles  of  his  ancestors  and  of  those  of  Marius.* 
But  the  Senate  took  good  care  not  to  forget  these  consuls,  these 
municipal  censors  in  their  own  municipality.  It  had  appointed 
that  the  exercise  of  a  municipal  office  should  give  the  freedom  of 
the  Roman  city ;  *  in  this  way  attaching  to  the  fortune  and  interests 
of  Rome  whatever  men  of  wealth,  nobility,  or  ambition  were  in  the 
Latin  towns.  To  disarm  the  plebeians,  it  had  taken  their  chiefs 
into  its  bosom ;  to  disarm  the  Latins,  it  summoned  their  nobility  to 
Rome. 

This  freedom  of  the   city,  which   the  Senate  knew  so  well  how 

were  at  first  the  inhabitants  of  the  twelve  Latin  colonies  founded  since  2G8,  had  not  the  right 
of  coinage,  excepting  cojjper,  and  retained  the  jus  commercii  with  restrictions.  Hence  one 
distinction  between  the  Latium  majus  and  the  Latium  minus,  which  spread  greatly  under  the 
Empire.  This  Latium  minus  opened  the  Roman  city  to  those  of  the  Latins  who  had  borne 
one  of  the  great  municipal  offices  or  convicted  a  Roman  magistrate  of  peculation. 

^  It  seems  that  from  2G8  the  Latins  ceased  the  coinage  of  silver  money,  and  that  the 
issuing  of  their  bronze  coin  stopped  after  the  Second  Punic  War.  (Mommscn,  llisl.  of  Roman 
Money,  iii.  188-195.) 

^  Aul.  Gell.,  Noct.  Att.  xvi.  13  :  legihus  sttis  et  sua  jure  utentes.  See  ibid.,  iv.  4,  the  proof 
of  the  existence  among  the  Latins  of  a  civil  law  distinct,  from  that  of  Rome  for  marriages, 
and  in  Livy  (xxxv.  7)  for  debts.     The  Julian  law  destroyed  this  special  law. 

'  De  Leg.,  iii.  10.  Arpinum,  on  a  hill  which  overhangs  the  Liris  near  its  confluence  with 
the  Fibrenus,  was  surrounded  by  Cyclopean  walls  with  a  remarkable  gate  (see  this  gate, 
p.  47,  No.  7).  Cicero  built  for  himself,  quite  near,  a  villa  on  one  of  the  isles  of  the  Fibrenus. 
See  the  charming  description  which  he  gives  of  it  in  de  Legibus,  ii.  1.  It  is  in  this 
passage  that  the  beautiful  words  are  found,  cited  on  p.  210. 

*  Strab.,  iv.  p.  187  ;  App.,  Bell.  Civ.  ii.  26  :  'Qv  oo-oi  Knr'  eror  ^px"^  iytyvovro  'Pm/xaifflC 
TToXiToi  ;  Gaius,  i.  96  :  Hi  qui  rel  mayistratum  vel  honorem  gerunt  ad  civitatem  Romanam 
perveniunt. 


o 

a 

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a 

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o 

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« 

O 


OEGANIZATION  OF  ITALY.  483 

to  use  for  stimulating  zeal,  recompensing  services,  or  softening  the 
regret  of  lost  liberty/  implied  for  him  who  had  obtained  it  abso- 
lute authority  over  his  children,  wife,  slaves,  and  property,  the 
guaranty  of  personal  liberty,  of  religion,  of  the  right  of  appeal, 
and  that  of  voting  up  to  60  years  of  age  ;  ^  fitness  for  office,  in- 
scription on  the  censor's  lists,  and  the  obligation  of  military  service 
in  the  legions  ;  that  of  permission  to  buy  and  sell  according  to  the 
law  of  the  Quirites ;  ^  exemption  from  every  impost  except  that 
which  citizens  paid  ;  *  lastly,  the  useful  right  of  participating  in  the 
enjoyment  of  the  domain  lands  or  in  the  farming  out  of  the 
taxes,  —  in  a  word,  the  benefit  of  the  civil,  political,  and  re- 
ligious laws  of  the  Romans.  Among  these  laws,  some  affect  the 
family  and  property,  —  these  are  included  under  the  name  of  ju>< 
Quiritiuin ;  others  affected  the  State,  —  this  is  the  jus  ciuitatis  ;  all 
together,  they  formed  the  freedom  of  the  city  in  its  fulness, — jus 
civitatis  optimo  jure. 


n.   MuNiciPiA,  Peefectukes,  and  Allied  Towns. 

The  Senate  conferred  on  the  Italians  outside  the  35  tribes 
either  the  civil  rights  of  the  Caerites^  after  the  Gallic  invasion,  or 
political  rights  in  their  fidl  extent.  Sometimes  the  Senate  granted 
only  the  right  of  trade  [conimercium),  or  of  marriage  [eonnubium] ; 
and  in  this  case  children  followed  the  condition  of  the  father." 
Far  from  dishonoring  the  freedom  of  the  city  by  an  imprudent 
Uberality,  the  Senate  parcelled  it  out  in  order  to  vary  the  concessions, 


^  However,  some  Italians  refused  this  so  envied  lienor.     (Livy,  ix.  45;  xxiii.  20.) 
^  Macrob.,  Saturn,  i.  5;  Pliny,  Ep.  iv.  23  ;  Festus,  s.  v.  Sexaf/enariDS. 

^  Palria  potestas,  jus  connuhii,  legitimi  dominii,  lestamenti,  hercdUatis,  libertatis,  pro- 
vocationis,  sacrorum,  suff'ragii,  honorum  vel  viagistratuum,  census,  commercii,  mililiac. 

*  That  is  to  say,  a  moderated  impost,  some  rights  of  customs,  and  e.\cise  of  one  twentieth 
on  the  sale  and  setting  free  of  slaves. 

*  As  they  could  neither  vote  nor  hold  any  office,  the  censors,  in  order  to  punish  a  citizen, 
inscribed  him  'm  tabulas  Caeritnm.  But  this  list  of  Caerites  had  at  first  been  a  title  of  honor, 
when  the  inhabitants  of  Caere  were  associated  to  the  Roman  state,  ea  conditione  ut  semper  rem 
publicam  separatam  a  populo  Romano  hnherent.      (Festus,  s.  \.  Municeps.) 

^  Gaius,  Inst.  i.  77.  When  marriage  had  taken  place  between  persons  not  having  the  jus 
connuhii,  the  condition  of  the  children  was  fixed  by  that  of  the  mother;  in  the  case  of  a  mar- 
riage of  a  foreigner  with  a  Roman,  natum  delerioris  parentis  conditionem  sequijubet  lex  Mcnsia. 
(Ulp.,  Lib.  rcg.  v.  8;  cf.  Gaius,  Tnsl.  i.  78,  81,  8G.) 


484- 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


COIN    OF    A    MUNICIPIUM.- 


which,  enabled  it  to  repay  zeal  or  punish  lukewarmness,  at  the  same 
time  making  everywhere  inequality. 

These  concessions  were  made  sometimes  to  a  man,  or  a  family, 
or  an  entire  class  ;  more  often  to  a  whole  city.     Munieipia  was  the 

name  given  to  the  cities  thus 
annexed  to  the  great  Roman 
society.  They  were  of  three 
kinds  :  ^  — 

1.  Munieipia  optimo  jure, 
whose  inhabitants  had  all 
the  rights  and  obligations  of 
Roman  citizens.  Their  inter- 
nal government  was  copied  from  that  of  Rome,  but  they  ceased  to 
be  an  independent  state,  civitas,  since  they  formed  part  of  the  Repub- 
lic, and  had  not  the  right  of  coining  money,  which  the  federated 
cities  and  Latin  colonies  possessed. 

2.  Munieipia  without  the  right  of  suffrage,  whose  inhabitants 
were  in  the  same  condition  as  the  ancient  plebeians  of  Rome, 
bore  the  title  of  citizens,  served  in  the  legions,  but  could  not 
hold  office  or  vote.^ 

3.  Towns  having  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  Rome,  who  bound 
them  to  her  fortune  without  altering  their  laws  and  institutions. 

Below  the  munieipia  came,  in  this  social  hierarchy,  the  praefect- 
urae,  which  had  no  local  magistrates  at  all ;  a  prefect,  sent  yearly 
from  Rome,  administered  justice  and  did  all  the  public  business; 
then  cities  sank  to  the  state  of  simple  country  towns,  vici.^ 

'  Fest.,  s.  V.  Municipium.  When  the  people,  on  receiving  the  freedom  of  the  city,  adopted 
the  Roman  laws,  henejicio  pupuli  Romani,  it  was  called  fundus,  and  its  citizens  adjusted 
their  actions-at-law  to  the  Roman  law,  sometimes  before  a  prae/ertus  Jure  dicundo,  who 
was  called  the  praetor  urhanus.  So  it  was  at  Arpinum,  whose  inhabitants  had  the  right  of 
voting  at  Rome  and  in  several  other  cities.  Let  us  note,  too,  in  passing,  that  the  prefects, 
whatever  their  functions,  —  and  these  were  very  variable,  —  were  always  appointed,  and  not 
elected. 

2  Laurel-crowned  head  of  Augustus,  with  the  legend,  AVGVSTVS  P.  P.  BIP.  (Augus- 
tus, Pater  patriae,  Imperator).  On  the  reverse,  MVN.  (municijiium)  in  a  crown  of  laurel,  and 
the  name  of  the  municipium,  TVRIASO.  Medium-sized  bronze  coin,  of  coarse  workmanship, 
struck  in  a  Spanish  city. 

°  Fest.,  s.  v.  Municipes  .  .  .  cives  erant  ct  in  legione  mcreharil,  sed  dignitatcs  non  capicbant. 
The  Campanians  were  in  this  class;  it  is  for  this  reason  that  Polybius  counts  them  with  the 
Romans.     Cf.  Livy,  viii.  14 ;  Fest.,  s.  v.  Praefectus. 

*  .  .  .  in  quihus  el  jus  dicebatur  et  nundinae  agebantur  .  .  .  neque  tamen  magistratus  suos 
kabehat.     (Fest.,  ibid.^ 


ORGAJSTIZATION  OF   ITALY. 


485 


COIN    OF    NAPLES.'' 


COIN    OP'    NOLA.3 


The  i3refectures  of  tliis  sort  were  cities  punished  for  their 
too  great  power  or  tlieir  revolts,  as 
Capua  during  the  Second  Punic  War, 
or  cities  troubled  l)y  intestine  dissen- 
sions and  which  asked  of  Rome  a  body 
of  laws  and  a  prefect.*  In  the  Middle 
Ages  every  Italian  republic  had  also 
a  foreign  podesta.  Yet  among  the  prefectures  the  same  diversity 
existed  as  among  the  municipia,  and  doubtless  for  the  same 
reasons. 

The  deditit'd  were  still  more  severely  treated :  handed  over  by 
victory  to  the  discretion  of  Rome,  they  had  been  obliged  to  give 
up  arms  and  hostages,  to  j3ull  down 
their  walls  or  receive  garrisons,  to  pay 
tribute,  and  furnish  a  contingent  de- 
termined by  the  Senate.  According  to 
the  formula  of  surrender  preserved  by 
Livy,  they  and  their  property,  even 
their  gods,  became  the  property  of  the  conqueror.* 
were  the   subjects  of    Rome. 

Others  bore  none  of  these  names. 
treaties  of  public  friendship  or  hospitality 
which  made  their  citizens,  when  they 
came  to  the  Forum,  the  guests  of  the 
Roman  people,  and  permitted  them  to 
attend,  in  a  place  of  honor,  at  religious 
feasts.  Or  agam  a  convention,  the  terms 
of  which  they  had  struggled  for,  declared  them  tlie  free  allies  of 
the  Roman  people,  civitates  foederatae,  —  an  illusion  which  served 
the    designs    of   the   Senate  without  taking  aught  from  its  power. 

^  Eodem  anno  (SIG)  primum praefecti  Capuam  creari  coepti  Ugibus  ab  L.  Furio  praetore 
(lalis,  cum  utrumque  ipsi  pro  remedio  aegris  rebus  discordia  intestina  petitsent.     (Livy,  \\.  20.) 

^  Laurel-crowned  head  of  Apollo.  The  reverse,  a  lyre  and  the  vase  called  cortina,  which 
received  the  first  oil  come  from  the  jiress,  or  water  carried  to  horses  and  circus-riders.  A  small 
bronze  of  the  Xeapolitans.  NF.OnOAITQN. 

°  II(^ad  of  a  woman.  The  reverse,  NQAAIfJN,  money  of  the  Nolans,  —  a  bidl  with  human 
face  crowned  by  a  winged  Victory.     Silver  didrachma. 

*  For  the  formula  of  surrender,  see  p.  59. 

^  Head  of  a  woman  between  three  dolphins  and  the  legend  TAPA.  The  reverse,  a  young 
man  on  horseback  crowned  by  a  Victory.  Gold  slaler  of  Tarentum,  the  Greek  name  of  which 
is  TAPA2. 


The   dedititii 


They    had    with    Rome 


COIN    OF    TARENTUM.' 


486  . 


CONQUEST   OF  ITALY. 


COIN   OF    NUCERIA.* 


Tarentum  was  free,  like  the  Hernican  cities ;  ^  but  its  demolished 
walls,  its  citadel  occui)ied  by  a  Roman  legion,  told  plainly  what 
sort  of  liberty  it  was.  Naples  was  the  ally  of  Rome,  as  also 
Velia,  Nola,  Nuceria,  the  Marsi  and  Peligni,  and  a  number  of 
other  peoples,  but  they  were  obliged  in  all  wars  to  give  vessels 
and  pay  for  the  troops.^  The  Camertiues  and  Heracleotes  had 
treated  on  an  equal  footing,  aequo  foedere ;  ^  Tibur,  Praeneste,  had 

preserved  all  the  external  signs  of 
independence,  like  the  greater  part 
of  the  Etruscan  and  Greek  cities, 
and  seemed  like  foreign  states.  But 
these  allies  of  Rome  had  promised 
to  respect  "  the  Roman  majesty,  "  — 
which  interdicted  them  from  every 
enterprise  against  the  fortunes  of  the  Roman  people.^  The  term, 
moreover,  was  vague  enough  to  let  the  Senate  extract  from  it  all 
the  obligations  which  suited  them ;  and  as  in  every  city  Rome  had 
created  friends  by  sustaining  the  party  of  the  nobles  against  the 
popular  party,  from  which  some  foolish  heroism^  was  always  appre- 
hended, what  could  this  equality  be  between  some  obscure  cities  and 
the  mistress  of  Italy  ?  What  was  this  independence,  due  simply  to 
the  disdainful  or  politic  moderation  of  the  conqueror  ? 

Such,  then,  was  the  policy  pursued  by  the  Senate  in  its 
treatment  of  the  vanquished :  the  respect  of  local  liberties  in  all 
the  cities  where  particular  circumstances  had  not  demanded 
severity,  but  no  general  treatment  which  would  have  united  what 
the  Senate  wished  to  keep  separate :  on  the  contrary,  formal 
interdiction  of  every  league,  of  all  commerce,  even  of  marriage, 
between  the  Italians  of  cities  or  different  cantons ; '  and  for  every 

'  They  had  autonomy.     CLivy,  ix  43.) 

'^  Livy,  xxviii.  45.  Rhegium,  Velia,  Paestum,  rendered  ships  also  (xxvi.  39).  Likewise 
Tai-entum  (xxxv.  16),  Locri  (xxxvi.  42),  Uria  (xlii.  48),  et  aliae  civitates  ejusdem  juris.  Cicero 
says,  speaking  of  these  duties  imposed  on  the  allied  cities :  Inerat.  nescio  quo  modo,  in  illo 
Joedere  societatis,  quasi  quaedam  nota  servitutis.   (II.  in  Ven:  v.  20.) 

'  Cic,  pro  Arch.  4;    pro  Biilho,  20,  22;  Livy,  .xxvii.46. 

*  Head  of  a  young  woman  with  a  ram's  horn  ;  Oscan  legend  ;  behind  the  head  a  doljihin, 
and  on  the  reverse  a  Dioscuros  standing,  holding  his  horse  by  the  bridle,  and  a  sceptre.  Silver 
money  of  Nuceria. 

'   Ut  populi  Romani  majestatem  comiter  consenmret.     {Dig.  xlix.  15,  7  §  1.) 

°  At  Capua,  during  the  Second  Punic  War,  the  nobles  remained  faithful  to  the  Romans  j 
the  people  were  for  Hannibal. 

'  Cf.  Livv,  viii.  14  ;   ix.  4.'.  ;  xlv.  29. 


ORGANIZATION  OF   ITALY.  487 

people  who  submitted,  special  conditions ;  for  every  city  a  special 
treaty  !  '  To  judge  from  appearances,  one  might  take  Italy 
for  a  confederation  of  free  states,  one  of  wliich  in  the  centre 
surpassed  the  others  oidy  in  powci'  and  renown.  The  fate  of 
the  Latin  league  has  taught  us  already  what  must  be  that  of 
the   Italian   confederation. 

The  prohibition  which  broke  every  bond  between  the  cities 
was  political,  and  is  easily  comprehended ;  that  which  authorized 
the  exercise  to  the  Italian  of  the  jus  commercii  only  within  the 
limits  of  his  own  territory  was  economic,  and  had  grave  results, 
which  do  not  appear  at  first  sight.  The  Romans,  being  alone 
able  to  buy  and  sell  throughout  the  peninsula,  and  meeting  with 
a. very  limited  competition  from  the  inhabitants  of  the  place  where 
the  transaction  was  made,  possessed  a  privilege  which  permitted 
them  by  degrees  to  unite  in  their  own  hands  a  great  part  of  the 
Italian  landed  projjerty.  This  limitation  certainly  contributed 
much  to  the  formation  of  the  Jatifundia,  which,  in  tlie  centuries 
following,  established,  for  the  profit  of  the  Romans,  immense 
domains  cultivated  by  armies  of  slaves. 

There  were,  however,  conditions  common  to  the  whole  of  Italy. 
Thus  prudence  counselled  not  to  subject  the  Italians  to  a  land-tax ; 
and  this  exemption  became  one  of  the  marks  of  the  Italian  law 
under  the  Empire.  But  citizens  pleno  jure,  citizens  sine  suffragio, 
allies  or  socii,  and  civitatcs  foedcratae,  all  were  subjected  to  military 
service,  which  these  warlike  peoples  scarcely  regarded  as  a  burden ; 
and  their  contingents  had  to  be  raised,  armed,  paid,  perhaps  even 
supported,  at  the  expense  of  the  cities,^  —  which  was  not  unjust,  since 
Rome  at  first  demanded  them  only  for  the  common  defence. 

1  For  towns  bearing  the  same  title  some  differences  existed.  Thus  Messina  and  Tauro- 
menium  became  during  the  First  Punic  War  foederalae ;  but  the  former  furnished  a  sliip, 
and  the  other  was  not  expected  to  do  so.     (Cic,  II.  in  Verr.  v.  19.) 

^  For  the  incorporation  of  the  Italians  into  the  Roman  army,  see  Polyh.,  vi.  Frar/.  5.  He 
says  that  Rome  gave  gratuitously  corn  and  barley  to  the  ItaHan  auxiliaries  {ibuL,  p.  8),  while 
she  retained  the  cost  of  it  out  of  the  pay  of  the  Roman  citizens.  We  infer  from  this  passage 
that  she  did  not  undertake  the  pay  of  tlie  auxiliaries,  although  slie  divided  the  booty  with 
them.     But  their  chiefs,  prae/ecli  sociorum,  were  Roman  citizens.     (.Livy,  xxiii.  7.) 


488  ■  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


III.   Colonies  and  Military  Roads. 

After   having  divided  the  interests,  there  was  need  to  prevent 
them  from  becoming;  remiited :    the  colonies  forestalled  this  danger. 
The    Gi-eek  colonies  were    sometimes    fomided   with   a  commer- 
cial end  in  view,  like  the  three  hmidred  trading-posts  of  Miletus ;  but 
never   for   a   political   object,    unless    it    were    to    rid    the    mother 
country  of   a  surplus   population    or  a  turbulent  crowd.     Like    the 
swarm    driven   from   the   hive,    the    colonists    became    strangers    to 
their   metropolis ;  ^  the   utmost  they  owed   to   it  was 
in  religious  matters  —  some  marks  of   deference    and 
lilial    respect.      The    civil    law    explains   the    political 
law ;  at   Athens,  the    son,   inscribed   in    the  ^^/tra^n'a, 
became    a    citizen,    and    no    one    had    authority    over 
''^mn^.vi^       liim-     At    Rome,  the    father   was   master   of    the    life 

COLON 1 .  ^ 

and  property  of  his  son,  even  if  senator  or  consul. 
In  the  colony  born  of  Rome,^  emancij^ation  could  never  come. 
From  the  Senate  it  received  its  municipal  law ;  its  internal 
organization  was  sketched  on  that  of  the  mother  country ;  it  had 
senators  or  decuriones,  consuls  or  duumvirs,  censors  or  duumviri 
quinquennalcs ;  but  in  case  of  war  it  had  to  pay  a  tribute  to  the 
Roman  treasury,  and  to  the  legions  even  the  very  last  of  its  able- 
bodied  men.*  The  ancient  Roman  colony  was  truly  nothing  but 
a  garrison,^  sent  out  to  the  state  lands,  and,  as  Machiavelli  terms 
it,    a   sentinel.®      It    did   not    establish   itself   at   random^   in    some 

^  The  xXijpoi'xo'  must  be  alwa}s  exeopted.  Athens  entered  upon  this  system  after  the 
Median  wars,  and  to  it  owed  tlie  ]iower  tliat  she  enjoyed  during  half  a  century.  The  true 
Greek  colonist  was  in  a  state  of  inferiority  in  respect  to  his  metropolis  (Tliuc,  i.  25).  He  of 
Athens,  if  he  returned  to  Attica,  was  nothing  more  than  a  /neVoiKos.  See  on  this  question  the 
learned  memoir  of  M.  Foucart  on  les  Colonies  atheniennes  of  the  5th  and  6th  centuries. 

^  Reverse  of  a  bronze  struck  at  Carthago  Noca.  Two  military  ensigns,  and  around,  C. 
AQUINVS    MELA   IIVIR   QVIN  {duumvir  quinquennaUs) . 

^  The  colonies  were  reflections  of  Rome.  Ex  ciritale  quasi  propai/atae  su7it  et  Jura  in- 
stitutaque  omnia  populi  Romani  liaheni  .  .  .  cujns  islae  coloniae  quasi  effigies  parvae  simulacraque 
esse  .  .  .  videntur.     (Aul.  GeU.,   Noct.  Alt.  XVI.  xiii.  8-9.) 

*  .  .  .  Milites  pecuniamque  darent.     (Livy,  xxix.  15.) 

*  Non  tarn  oppida  Italiae  quam  propugnacula  imperii.     (Cic,    in  Rull.  ii.  27.) 

*  The  expression  is  Cicero's.  In  the  speech  pro  Fonteio  he  calls  Narbonne :  Specula 
populi  Romani  et  propugnaculum. 

'  Servius  {in  Aen.,  i.  12)  defines  a  colony  :  dcdticli  sunt  in  locum  cerium  acdijiciis  munitum. 


OEGANIZATION   OF  ITALY. 


489 


fertile  district,  on  a  river's  bank,  or  at  a  harbor.  It  had 
as  its  object  not  its  own  prosperity,  but  the  guardianship  of  a 
territory.^      In  place  of  building  a  city  where  it  chose,  it  occupied 


AtUT  the   Auatnun  Survey 


Scale 


GKOUND-PLAN    OF    LANDS    FOR    A    COLOPfY.^ 


in  narrow  passes,  or  on  precipitous  mountain-sides,  old  cities  sur- 
rounded by  good  walls,  and  commandmg  the  country  far  and  wide.^ 
The  agrimcnsor  who  came  from  Rome  with  the  armed  colonists,  all 
veteran  soldiers,*  divided  among  them  houses  as  well  as  lands.     At 

"  Brutus  (ap.  App.,  Bell.  Cir.  ii.  140)  calls  the  colonists:  (pvXuKas  tmv  neTToKfjirjKuTMv. 

^  There  still  remain  traces  of  the  ground-plans  set  out  by  the  agrimensores :  "  In  following 
the  Via  Aemilia,  between  Cesena  and  Bologna,  as  well  as  here  and  there  in  the  districts  of 
Modcna  and  Parma,  the  traveller  is  much  surprised  to  see  uniform  paths,  all  perfectly  parallel, 
equidistant  and  at  right  angles  with  the  high  road.  They  are  all  cut  at  right  angles  by  other 
tracl<s,  so  that  the  fields  have  exactly  the  same  area.  Seen  from  the  spurs  of  the  Apennines, 
these  fields  look  like  chessboards  of  verdure  or  of  ripening  crops,  and  an  accurate  survey 
proves  that  in  fact  the  soil  of  these  districts  is  cut  into  rectangles  of  geometrical  equalit}-, 
being  785  yards  long  and  about  127  acres.  Now  this  square  is  precisely  the  Roman  centuria, 
and  Livy  tells  us  that  all  these  lands,  after  having  been  taken  from  the  Gauls,  were  measured, 
S(iuared,  and  divided  among  the  Roman  colonists.  It  is,  then,  beyond  doubt  that  these  regular 
networks  of  roads,  canals,  and  furrows  date  20  centuries  back,  and  are,  indeed,  the  work  of  the 
veterans  of  Rome."      (Reclus,  Nnuvelh  //e'of/mphie  universelle,  i.  344.) 

3  Horace  says,  speaking  of  Venusia :  Quo  ne  per  vacuum  Romano  incurreret  Jwstis.  (Sat. 
II.  i.  38.) 

*  Livy,  iv.  48 ;  Front.,  Stmt.  iv.  3,  1 2.  The  colonists  formed  a  little  army,  having  its 
centurions  and  knights,  who  received  a  larger  share,     (r^ivy,  xx.xv.  9,  50;   xxxvii.  57;   xl.  34.) 


490 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


the  first,  they  were  few  in  number  ;  in  the  cities  of  Latium  and 
the  Sabine  territory  there  were  three  hundred  families  ;  hi,ter  on, 
when  there  was  need  to  occupy  important  mOitary  frontiers,  actual 
armies  went  forth  :  six  thousand  men  went  to  Beneventiim,  to 
cover  Campania ;  still  more  to  Venusia,  to  threaten  Magna  Graecia, 
to  defend  Apulia,  to  check  the  Lucanians  and  the  Samnites  of 
the  south.  It  is  thought  that  the  colonists,  once  established  at 
the  expense  of  the  former  inhalutants,  and  consequently  sur- 
rounded by  enemies,  were 
jiffv  not  allowed  to  desert  their 

post  and  go  to  vote  at 
Rome,  and  that,  like  all 
the  soldiers  with  the  col- 
ors, the  law  deprived 
them  of  the  right  of  de- 
liberating. We  have  no 
express  evidence  that  they  did  not  preserve  the  plenitude  of 
their  privileges  as  Roman  citizens.  But  though  they  preserved 
them,  they  had  something  else  to  do  than  increase  the  din  and 
crowd  of  the  Forum.  The  Republic  required  them  to  render  its 
conquests  durable  ;  to  watch  over  the  vanquished  and  prevent 
revolts ;  to  carry  throughout  Italy  the  language,  manners,  laws, 
and  blood  of  Rome  and  Latium.^  This  they  secured  so  well,  that, 
within  a  few  years,  there  was  born  in  the  depths  of  Apulia  the 
man  whom  the  Romans  styled  the  father  of  their  literature, 
Ennius  noster,  the  poet  who  sang  in  eighty-one  books  the  great 
deeds  of  their  ancestors. 


COIN   OP    THE    DECURIONS.' 


Three  magistrates  were  generally  charged  with  conducting  them,  and  during  the  first  year 
supervising  theii-  wants :  triumviri  deducendis  coloniis,  qui  per  triennium  magistralum  haherenl. 
(Livy,  xxxii.  29.)  The  colonies  called  maritime  (not  all  the  colonies  on  the  sea  were  so,  but 
only  those  which  guarded  an  important  port  at  the  mouth  of  a  river)  were  exempt  from  land 
service,  and  sometimes  that  by  sea :  sacro-sancta  vacalio.  (Livy,  xxvii.  38 ;  xxxvi.  3.)  They 
were  required  above  all  to  defend  the  ])osition  which  had  been  intrusted  to  them,  and  this 
interest  appeared  so  considerable,  that  the  maritime  colonies  were  composed  of  Roman 
citizens. 

1  Coin  struck  by  decree  of  the  dccurions  DD  {de.crelo  dacurionuiii)  at  Apamea  in  Bithynia 
under  Caracalla.     Large  bronze. 

^  Asconius  {in  Pison.y  reckoned  before  the  Second  Punic  AVar  53  colonies,  twenty-three 
of  which  had  the  jus  Lntii.  Madvig  and  Mommsen  have  enumerated  the  names  of  thirty-oue 
or  thirty-two  Roman  colonies  and  of  thirty-nine  Latin  colonies.  In  the  latter  not  only  Latins 
and  Italians  were  admitted,  but  also  plebeians  from  Rome,  who  preferred  a  jiroiierty  in  a 
colony  to  the  exercise  of  political  rights  in  the  Forum. 


ORGANIZATION   OK   ITALY.  491 

Following  a  custom  derived  from  older  Italy,  the  colonists, 
where  the  conquered  had  been  spared,  took  usually  a  third  of  the 
territory ;  the  natives  shared  the  rest,  and  had  in  their  own  city- 
only  an  inferior  position,  like  that  of  liie  plebeians  of  Rome  when 
the  latter  were  still  without  the  jus  suffragil  and  the  jus  lionorum. 
Thus  revolts  were  frequent,  and  many  a  time  were  the  colonists 
driven  away  or  surprised  and  massacred  by  their  subjects.  But 
time  and  community  of  interests  effaced,  as  at  Rome,  these  dil- 
ferences.  The  colonial  'populiis  and  plvhs  ended  by  being  fused  in 
the  equality  of  municipal  rights,  to  which  was  often  added  equality 
of  i-ights  with  Rome,  in  vu'tue  of  a  plebiscite  which  enrolled  the 
city  in  one  of  the  thirty-five  tribes.  Then  there  remained  no  other 
division  than  the  natural  one  between  the  rich  and  poor,  the  assidui 
and  the  aerarii,  the  honestiores  and  the  humiliores,  which  formed 
the  great  social  division  in  the  last  days  of  the  Republic  and  under 
the  Empire. 

With  the  Gracchi  a  new  sort  of  colonies  began,  —  that  of  poor 
people  to  whom  lands  were  given ;  another  again  with  Marius  and 
Sylla,  —  that  of  soldiers  who  obtained  lands  as  a  military  prize: 
two  very  different  proceedings,  which  we  shall  discuss  in  due 
time. 

To  complete  this  sketch  of  the  ancient  colonies,  let  us  see  what 
posts  the  Senate  gave  them  to  guard. 

Till  the  Samnite  war,  Rome,  more  engaged  in  gaining  peace 
within  than  conquests  without,  had  formed  a  small  number  only 
of  these  establishments  alike  political  and  military.  In  Etruria, 
Sutrium  and  Nepete  at  the  passes  of  the  Ciminian  forest ;  among 
the  Rutuli,  Ardea  and  Satricum ;  among  the  Volsci,  Antium  to 
watch  the  coast ;  Velitrae,  Norba,  and  Setia,  to  keep  in  che(;k  the 
mountain  district. 

In  the  war  with  Samnium  the  legions  had  conquered  in  vain ; 
the  war  would  never  have  ended,  had  not  the  Senate,  by  its 
colonies,  gradually  made  the  enemy  retreat  to  the  Apennines. 
By  Terracina,  on  the  Appian  Way,  it  closed  the  route  from  Cam- 
pania into  Latium  ;  by  Fregellae  it  barred  the  Valley  of  the  Trerus, 
which  led  to  Praeneste  and  the  Alban  Mount ;  by  Sora,  Interamna, 
Minturnae,  all  on  the  Liris,  it  covered  the  country  of  the  Volsci  and 
of  the  Hernicans. 


492  • 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


COIN   OP    AQUINUM.' 


A  second  line  defended  the  first,  —  Atina,  Aquinum,  Casinum, 
in  the  mountainous  country  which  separates  the  Vulturnus  from 
the    Liris,    closed    the    passes    which    the    Samnites    had    many    a 

time  followed  to  descend  into  the 
valley  of  this  latter  river,  and  thence 
effect  a  junction  with  the  revolted 
peoples  of  Latium.  Vescia,  Suessa 
Aurunca,  Teanum,  and  Gales  among 
the  Sidicini,  kept  the  country  between 
the  Lower  Liris  and  the  Vulturnus. 

This  double  line,  which  encircled  Latium  on  the  south  and 
southeast,  was  connected  on  the  east  by  Alba  Fucentia  among  the 

Marsi,    Aesula    and    Carseoli    among    the 
Aequi,    with    the    important    position    of 
Narnia,    which    covered    the    route    from 
Umbria  towards  Rome,  and  with  the  colo- 
nies   of    Etruria,    Nepete,   Sutrium,    Cosa, 
Alsium,  and  Fregellae.     Behind  this  ram- 
part Rome  could  brave  every  enemy.     Hanni1)al  and  Pyrrhus,  who 
once  crossed  this  formidable    circle,  but  without  having  broken  it, 
did  not  dare  to  remain  in  the  midst  of  it. 

In  the  rest  of  Italy  the  colonies  were  less  numerous :  the 
population  of  Rome  and  its  Latin  allies  would  not  have  been  suf- 
ficient to  form  so  many  garrisons ;  but 
lay  their  strength  and  good  position 
they  were  enabled  to  command  a  wide 
area.  Thus  Samnium  had  only  two,  —  at 
Aesernia  and  Beneventum,  from  whence 
started  all  the  high  roads  of  South  Italy ; 
Picenum,  three,  —  Hadria,  Firmum,  Castrum  ;  Umbria,  four,  ranged 
along  the  route  of  the  Gauls,  —  Narnia,  which  barred  the  middle 
valley    of    the    Tiber;    Spoletum,    which    covered    this    place    and 


COIN    OF    COSA.- 


COIN   OF    AESERNIA.^ 


^  Head  of  Minerva.  Reverse,  AQVIN,  a  cock  and  a  star ;  small  bronze  of  Aquinum  on 
the  via  Latina,  the  ruins  of  which  are  to  be  seen  still  in  the  vicinity  of  the  modern  town  of 
Aquino.     It  was  the  native  place  of  Juvenal  [and  of  the  great  St.  Thomas.  —  i?'/.]. 

^  Head  of  Jlinerva.     On  the  reverse,  bust  of  a  horse,  CO(sa)NO.     Small  bronze. 

3  Head  of  Vulcan:  VOLCANO:\r;  behind,  pincers.  On  the  reverse,  AISERNINO  and 
a  young  woman  driving  a  biga.  Small  bronze  of  Aesernia,  in  the  Valley  of  the  Vulturnus, 
now  Isernia. 


ORGAJJTIZATION   OF  ITALY. 


493 


the    route    to   Rome  ;    Sena   and    Ariiiiinniu,    outposts    against    the 
Cisalpines.' 

In  Campania  the  Greeks  proved  faithful  ;  Itut  Capua,  always 
turbulent,  was  watched  by  the 
colonies  of  Saticula  and  Cales ;  in 
case  of  need,  Casilinum,  on  a  rock 
at  the  edsre  of  the  Vulturnus  and 
a  short  distance  from  Capua,  could 
receive  a  garrison  ;  Apulia  was 
guarded  by  Luceria  and  Venusia, 
which  put  on  its  coins  the  eagle  of  Jupiter  holding  a  thunderbolt ; 


COIN    OF    BKUNDUSIUM.- 


TUMULI    AT    ALSIUM.2 

Calabria,  by  Brundusium  and   Valeutia  ;    the  coast  of  Lucania,  by 

'  To  avoid  returning  later  on  to  this  matter  of  the  colonies,  in  the  case  of  some  I  go 
beyond  the  date  which  we  have  readied.  Thus  Spolctuni  was  colonized  only  in  240 ;  several 
others  were  founded  only  din'ing  the  First  Punic  ^^'ar. 

^  Neptune  crowned  by  a  Victory,  the  trident,  and  four  O's,  the  mark  of  the  tricn;!  (see 
p.  324).  On  the  reverse,  BIIVN.  (Brundusium)  and  a  monogram.  Arion  on  a  dolpliin,  and 
holding  in  his  right  hand  a  Victory.     Bronze  of  Brundusium. 

*  Vergil  has  described  (^Aen.  xi.  850,  seq.)  this  Icind  of  sepulture  :  "  On  a  mountain  arose 


494 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


Paeskim.      More  to  the  south,   Tarentura,  Locri,   Rhegiiim,  on  the 
Straits,  and  some  other  places,  had  garrisons. 

To  bind  together  all  these  parts,  and  to  transport  the  legions 
rapidly  to  menaced  points,  great  military  roads  were  laid  out  from 
one  extremity  of  the  peninsuhi  to  the  other.  In  the  middle  of  the 
Saiunite   war,   in    312,   the    censor  Appius    had    begun    the    Appian 


THE    AITIAN    GATE    (kEST(_>1!I;1)).1 

Way,  which  led  across  the  Pontine  Marshes  from  Rome  to  Capua. 
This  great  example  was  followed ;  and  from  that  time  the  censors 
employed  for  works  of  peace  the  resources  of  the  treasury.  They 
set  with  such  activity  to  work,  that  before  the  Second  Punic  War  the 
Valerian  Way  traversed  Tibur,  the  colonies  of  Carseoli  and  Alba, 
and  reached  Corfinium,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Apennines  ;  the 
Aurelian  Way  ran  along  tlie  coasts  of  Etruria,  and  the  Flaminian 


an  immense  eminence,  wliich  an  oak  covered  witli  its  tliiek  shade.     It  was  the  tomb  of  Der- 
cennus,  a  former  king  of  Laurentum." 

1  Canina,  (ili  Eilifhj  di  Roma.  pi.  L>70. 


Jl'll' 


'J I 


1 1 


.imiiBiiiiiii'iijiimminiiiigiiia! 


OEGAN^IZATION  OF   ITALY.  495 

Way  went  from  the  Campus  Martius  to  Ariinimiin,  i.  c,  to  the 
entrance  of  Cisalpine  GauL 

By  the  Appian  and  Latin  Ways  Rome  had  therefore  prompt  and 
easy  communication  with  Lower  Italy ;  by  the  Aurelian  and  Fla- 
minian  Ways,  with  Etruria  and  Umhria ;  by  the  Valerian  Way, 
with  the  country  in  the  midst  of  the  Apennines.  The  colonies 
settled  on  these  routes  were  able,  in  case  of  danger,  to  close  them.^ 

The  genius  of  a  people  or  an  epoch  is  seen  in  its  architecture. 
Greece  had  the  Parthenon,  —  supreme  elegance  and  ideal  beauty ; 
the  Middle  Ages,  the  cathedrals  of  Rheims  and  Amiens,  —  the  fervent 
glow  of  devotion.  The  architectural  glory  of  the  Romans  is  aljove 
all  their  military  roads,  whose  strong  network  first  enlaced  Italy, 
later  on,  the  world.  This  people  did  not  look  upwards :  its  eyes 
and  hands  are  fixed  on  the  earth ;  but  no  one  has  held  it  with 
a  stronger  grasp.^ 

'  It  is  true  tliat  ancient  armies,  not  carrying  heavy  artillery,  could  more  easily  leave  the 
main   roads. 

-  The  I'oUuwiug  is  a  list  of  the  seven  high-roads  leading  from  Home,  to  which  were 
attached  twenty  secondary  roads  or  branches  from  the  principal  ones.  The  most  important 
of  these  can  be  traced  on  our  special  map  of  the  military  roads  and  colonies  before  the  Punic 
wars.  In  the  following  list  we  give  the  complete  system,  so  as  to  avoid  returning  to  this 
matter. 

I.  Via  Appia,  from  Rome  to  Capua  by  the  plain,  and  from  ('a]iua  to  Brundusiura.  From 
it  branch  off  the  roads,  —  Setina,  going  to  Setia  ;  Domitianaj which  from  Sinuessa  to  Surrentum 
goes  round  the  Bay  of  Naples ;  Campana  or  Consularis,  from  Capua  to  Cumae,  Puteoli, 
Atella,  and  Naples;  Aquillia  from  Capua  to  Salernum,  Paestum,  Cosentia,  Vibo,  and  Rhegiiim  ; 
Egnatia,  from  Beneventum  to  Ilerdonea,  Canusiimi,  and  Brindisi ;  Tmjana,  from  Venusia  to 
rieraclea,  Thurium,  ('rotona,  and  Rhegium,  where  it  joins  the  Via  Aquillia ;  Minuriti,  or 
Numicia,  traversing  Samnium  from  north  to  south. 

II.  Via  Latina,  from  Rome  to  Beneventum,  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains.  It  sends  a 
branch  to  Tusculum,  via  Tusculana,  and  is  connected  to  the  Appian  Way  by  a  cross-road,  Vi ' 
Hadriana,  running  from  Teanum  to  Minturnac.  The  two  roads,  Appia  and  Latina,  separate 
at  the  Porta  Cajiena.  Between  the  Latin  and  Valerian  roads  run,  —  the  Via  Lahicana,  iroxa 
the  Esfjuiline  Gate  to  Labicum,  and  joining  the  Via  Latina  at  a  ])lace  calleil  ad  Bicium,  30 
miles  from  Rome ;  the  Via  Pracneslina  or  Gahina,  going  off  at  the  same  point  and  joining 
the  Latin  Road  near  Anagnia ;  the  Via  Collatina,  very  short. 

III.  Via  Tibubtina,  from  the  Porta  Tiburtina  to  Tibur,  and  continuing,  under  the 
name  of  Via  Valeria,  across  the  Sabine  country  to  Corfinium,  whence  it  was  continued 
to  the  Adriatic,  which  it  coasted  from  Aternum  to  Castrum  Truentinum.  where  it  met  the 
Salarian  Road.  Two  branches  led  to  Sublaipieum,  Via  Suhlaccnais,  in  the  high  valley  of  the 
Anio  and  in  Apulia ;  Via  Frentana  Appula,  along  the  Adriatic.  The  Via  Nomenlana,  or 
Ficulnensis,  started  from  the  Porta  Collina,  rejoined  at  Eretum  the  Salarian  Way. 

IV.  Via  Salaria,  from  the  Colline  Gate  to  Ancona,  by  Fidenae,  Reate,  Asculum, 
Picenum,  Castrum  Truentinum,  to  the  coast  of  the  Adriatic. 

V.  Via  Fi.aminia,  from  the  Flaminian  Gate  to  Ariminum,  by  Narnia,  Interamna, 
Spoletum,  Fanum  Fortunae,  and  Pisaurum,  on  the  coast.  It  was  continued  under  the  name  of 
Via  Aemilia,  which  traversed  GalUa  Cisalpina  to  Placentia,  where  it  crossed  the  Po,  reached 


496  •  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

Besides  the  military  colonies  sent  to  the  strongest  places  of 
Italy,  Rome  had  in  the  country  establishments  of  another  kind,  and 
which  helped  the  same  result, — the  spread  of  the  Latin  race  over 
the  whole  peninsula.  The  ager  Romanus  stopped  at  the  Vulturnus ; 
but  the  rest  of  Italy  was  covered  with  lands  assigned  to  the  public 
domain  of  the  Roman  people.  The  Bruttians  had  ceded  half  of  the 
Sila  forest  /  the  Samnites  and  the  Lucanians,  who  had  recognized 
the  majesty  of  the  Roman  people,  the  Sabines  and  Picentines,  de- 
spoiled by  Curius,  the  Senones,  exterminated  by  Dolabella,  had  lost 
more  still ;  and  the  half,  perhaps,  of  the  best  lands  of  the  penin- 
sula had  become  Roman  property.  The  censors  had  let  them  ;  '^  and 
shepherds  and  Roman  laborers,  being  spread  throughout  the  country, 
were  unceasingly  jjeing  fused  with  the  Italian  populations. 

In  order  to  insure  the  payment  of  the  tax  imposed  on  the 
lands  of  the  domain,  the  Senate  divided  the  peninsula  into  four 
grand  divisions,  to  which  were  sent  four  quaestors,  who  resided  at 
Ostia  and  Gales  for  the  provinces  which  lie  towards  the  Tyrrhenian 
Sea ;  in  Umbria  and  Calabria  for  the  districts  along  the  Adriatic.^ 

To  the  cities  of  different  ranks  which  we  have  named  are  at- 
tached the  cantons,  pagi,  and  the  country  towns,  vici,  which  had 
their  annual  magistrates ;  also  the  fora  and  concilidbula.  In  the  dis- 
tricts where  the  jDopulation  was  not  dense,  certain  places  became  the 


Milan,  and  from  thence  ran  westward  to  Turin,  to  the  east  as  far  as  Trieste.     A  cross-road, 
Via  Pnstvtiiia,  went  from  Genoa  to  Verona. 

VI.  Via  Cassia  led  across  Central  Etruria,  by  Veii,  Siitrium,  Vulsinii,  and  Arretium  to 
Luna,  where  it  joined  the  Aurelian  Way.  One  of  its  branches,  via  Amerina,  went  to  Tudor  and 
Perusia;  another.  Via  CTorfio,  united  Rusellae  and  Tarquinii,  and  the  Via  Ci);n'no  crossed  the 
mountains  of  Viterbo,  Ciminus  jnonn. 

VII.  Via  Aurelia,  leaving  Rome  by  the  Janiculum  Gate,  touched  Alsium,  and  followed 
the  Etruscan  coast  to  Genoa  and  Frejus.  The  Via  Portuensis  followed  the  right  bank  of  the 
Tiber  to  Portus  August! ;  the '  Via  Ostiensis,  the  left  bank  to  Ostia,  whence  it  turned  to  the 
south,  keeping,  under  the  name  of  Via  Severiana,  along  the  coast  to  Terracina  ;  the  roads 
Laureniina  and  Ardeatina  indicate  the  route  by  their  names. 

Thus  seven  grand  roads  started  from  Rome, — two,  Appia  and  Latino,  to  the  south; 
two,  Vale.ria  and  Salaria,  to  the  Adriatic  ;  one,  Flaniinia,  to  the  northeast;  two,  Cassia  and 
Aurelia,  to  the  northwest ;  and  the  Via  Aemilia  serves  for  both  banks  of  the  Po.  See  on  this 
question  the  classic  work  of  Bergier,  Tli.itoire.  des  graiuU  chemins  dc  Vcmpire  romain,  and  the 
Table  de  Peulinyer,  ed.  Ernest  Desjardins. 

'  Dionys.,  Excerpta  ex  libra  xx.  15  (20,  5). 

^  In  many  places  the  Italians  were  admitted  as  farmers,  and  this  was  one  more  bond 
between  them  and  Rome  ;  but  that  dates,  doubtless,  from  a  later  period.  At  the  time  of  the 
Gracchi,  many  of  them  are  holders  of  domain  land.     (Cic,  de  Rep.  iii.  29.) 

*  Livy,  Epit.  XV.;  Tac,  Ann.  iv.  27. 


ORGANIZATION   OF   ITALY.  497 

common  market-place,  /o/vrm,  and  the  point  of  vcumion,  conciliabidum, 
of  the  whole  canton.'  Communities  were  there  formed  which 
became  by  degrees  vici,  or  even  cities ;  and  the  nomad  sheplierd  of 
the  Pontine  Marshes,  as  well  as  the  mountaineer  whose  hut  lay 
hidden  in  the  most  retired  valleys  of  the  Apennines,  was  attached 
to  this  municipal  rule,  of  which  Rome,  while  respecting  it,  made 
an    instrument    of   dominion. 


IV.   Religious  Supremacy  ;   Rome  governs,  and  does  not 

ADMINISTER. 

Religion  exercised  too  great  an  influence  throughout  the  whole 
peninsula  for  the  Romans,  while  disciplining  Italy,  to  neglect  the 
discipline  also  of  its  religions.  We  have  seen^  that  the  protecting 
divinities  of  conquered  cities  were  often  worshipped  at  Rome.  When 
their  gods  were  left  to  the  vanquished,  it  was  usual  to  subject  the 
priests  of  these  gods  to  the  control  of  Roman  priests,  who  claimed  to 
be  the  sole  possessors  of  the  science  of  augury.  From  the  Rvibicon 
to  the  Straits  of  Messina,  not  a  prodigy  happened  that  was  not  im- 
mediately referred  by  the  trembling  people  to  the  Roman  Senate, 
interpreted  by  its  augurs,  and  expiated  according  to  their  directions.^ 
By  this  the  local  clergy  was  dispossessed  of  its  principal  means  of 
influence,  and  the  Romans  held  Italy  by  religion,  as  they  did  by 
policy  and  arms.  Presently,  we  shall  find  the  religious  feeling 
grow  weak,  and  amongst  some  disappear.  Now  it  was  still  power- 
ful, and  the  Romans  gave  an  example  of  piety.  It  is  computed  that 
from  302  to  290  ten  temples  were  built  by  them  in  their  city. 

The  other  great  nations  of  antiquity  had  known  well  enough 
how  to  conquer ;  not  one  knew  how  to  preserve  its  conquests, 
because  none  would  forego  the  rights  which  A'ictory  had  given  them. 

1  The  commissioners  norainateJ  in  tlie  year  211  for  tlie  recruitine;,  go  per  fora  et  con- 
ciliahula.  Cf.  Livy  pass,  and  Festus  s.  v.  These  fora  et  concUiahula  were  places  where  a 
rural  population,  not  having  a  city,  transacted  their  religious  or  judicial  affairs,  and  held  their 
meetings  and  markets.  I  have  counted  among  the  ancient  cities  of  Italy  more  than  thirty 
fora,  many  of  which  to  this  day  keep  the  name :  Forli,  Forlimpopoli,  Fossombrone,  etc. 

2  Page  358,  n.  1. 

*  Livy,  xxi.  62:  lectkternium  Caere  imperafum ;  .xxii.  1,  deci-etiim  est  .  .  .  Junoni  Lanurii 
.  .  .  sacrijirarelur  .  .  .  Decemriri  Ardcae  in  fori)  majoribus  hostiis  sacrijicarunt.  Cf.  xxxiii.  31. 
See  especially  in  the  ne.xt  volume  the  senatus-consuUum  against  the  Bacchanals. 

VOL.  I.  32 


498  .  CONQUEST   OF  ITALY. 

Under  her  kings,  Rome  called  in  strangers  to  unite  with  her ; 
now,  populous  enough,  in  the  Senate's  judgment,  she  creates  Roman 
citizens  outside  her  walls ;  and  to  stimulate  zeal,  she  holds  up,  before 
the  eyes  of  all,  this  title  which  raises  to  the  rank  of  masters  of  Italy, 
which  releases  from  many  taxes,  which  gives  access  to  office,  and  in- 
vites to  a  share  in  the  distributions  of  lands  and  to  the  enjoyment  of 
the  public  domain.  It  is  the  coin  in  which  she  repays  all  services, — 
precious  money,  which  she  distributes  in  order  to  gain  by  it  a  greater 
number  to  her  cause.  Therefore  if  it  is  true  that  the  Roman  people, 
terrible  against  the  strong,  and  pitiless  on  the  field  of  battle,  carried 
destruction  wherever  it  found  a  iveen  resistance,  at  least,  when  war 
was  over,  it  spontaneously,  in  the  interest  of  its  greatness,  raised 
up  the  enemy  which  it  had  just  struck  down ;  it  was  j)leased,  as 
the  poet  says,  joarcere  suhjectis  et  debellare  superhos.  Satisfied  with 
having  destroyed  the  political  power  of  its  adversaries,  it  genera^lly 
respected,  in  tliis  first  period  of  its  conquests,  their  manners,  their 
laws,  and  their  government.  It  knew  that  a  people  could  be  re- 
signed to  the  loss  of  its  independence,  that  is  to  say,  to  a  confes- 
sion of  its  weakness,  but  never  to  the  contempt  of  the  customs  of 
its  ancestors.  The  centralization  was  political,  not  administrative ; 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  cities,  preserving  their  magistrates,^  laws, 
religion,  finances,  internal  police,  allowed  to  confer  municipal  free- 
dom, to  administer  criminal  and  civil  procedure,^  —  in  short,  to  give 
themselves  laws,  —  regarded  themselves  rather  as  associated  with 
the  splendor  of  the  Roman  name  than  subject  to  its  power.  The 
bustle  of  their  comitia  made  them  believe  themselves  free.  All  the 
living  forces  of  Italy  were  centralized  in  the  hands  of  the  consuls; 
the  Senate  disposed  of  its  five  hundred  thousand  soldiers,  its  cavalry, 
its  navy,  and  yet  political  life  was  not  extinguished  in  the  municipia; 
the  blood  did  not  leave  the  extremities  to  rush  to  the  heart,  as 
is  the  case  a  century  and  a  half  later,  when  those  tempests  arise 
in  which  the  Republic  will  founder.  We  are  still  in  the  age  of 
moderation  and  wisdom. 

'  See  p.  483.  After  the  war  against  Perseus,  the  citizens  had  no  taxes  whatever  to 
pay. 

^  Even  the  simple  towns :  7n<i(/istri  vici,  item  ma(jislri  pagi  quotannis  Jiunt.  Fest.,  s.  v. 
Vicus. 

^  Except  for  the  municipia  optiino  jure.  A  Roman  citizen  coukl,  in  a  criminal  matter, 
be  judged  only  by  the  whole  people  according  to  the  TwelvS  Tables. 


OEGAl^IZATION   OF  ITALY.  499 

While  giving  to  Italy  the  organization  just  described,  Rome 
had  accomplished  all  that  her  municipal  constitution  permitted,  and 
more  than  the  political  wisdom  of  antiquity  taught  her.  She  con- 
tinued the  sovereign  city  by  the  right  of  victory ;  but  she  made 
herself  the  capital  of  the  Italians  by  attracting  to  her  Senate  their 
most  notable  citizens.  If  it  is  not  the  representative  system  m  its 
reality,  it  was  a  feeble  image  of  it ;  and  this  political  genius  which 
anticipated  the  far-off  future  ought  to  command  our  admiration.^ 

1  "\\'e  liave  seen  at  p.  418  that  the  Latins  had  demanded  that  the  Senate  shoidd  be 
composed  half  of  Roman  senators  and  half  of  Latin  senators.  This  idea  of  a  sort  of  federative 
republic  was  very  familiar  to  the  Italians  of  Central  Italy.  We  know  of  an  Etruscan  diet  of 
Voltumna,  the  feriae  Latinae,  the  ancient  league  of  Kome,  the  Latins  and  Ilernicans.  Alex- 
ander the  Molossian  had  also  formed  an  amphictyonic  council  for  the  Italian  Greeks. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

INTEENAL  STATE  OF  EOME  DUEING  THE  SAMNITE  "WAK. 

I.   Manners. 

THIS  period  has  been  regarded  as  the  golden  age  of  the 
Republic.  According  to  the  old  and  honorable  ciistom  of 
praising  l^ygone  days,  all  the  virtues  have  been  ascribed  to  the 
Romans  of  this  period ;  and  virtues  they  indeed  possessed,  especially 
those  which  make  good  citizens.  The  conquerors  of  the  Etruscans 
and  Tarentum  did  not  desj^ise  poverty ;  the  plebeians,  who  had 
asserted  so  many  rights,  accepted  all  their  duties,  and  their  patriot- 
ism had  the  force  of  a  religious  feeling.  Two  Decii  gave  their 
lives  for  the  Roman  army;  Postumius  and  Manlius  each  sacri- 
ficed a  son  to  discipline.  The  censor  Rtitilius,  ^  re-elected  on  leav- 
ing office  (266),  called  together  the  people,  and  censured  them 
strongly  for  having  conferred  twice  in  succession  on  the  same 
citizen  those  important  functions.  If  Corn.  Rufinus,  in  spite  of 
two  consulates,  a  dictatorship,  and  a  triumph,  was  expelled  the 
Senate  for  his  ten  pounds  of  silver  plate,  wlien  the  law  permitted 
only  eight  ounces ;  ^  if  the  consul  Postumius  forced  two  thousand 
legionaries  to  cut  his  corn  or  clear  his  woods,  —  Atilius  Serranus 
received  at  the  jslough  the  consular  purple,  as  Cincinnatus  did 
formerly  the  dictatorship.  Regulus,  after  two  consulates,  possessed 
only  a  little  field  with  a  single  slave,  in  the  sterile  territory  of 
Pupiniae  ;  and  Curius,  with  his  triumphal  hands,  like  Fabricius  and 
Aemilius  Papus,  prepared  his  coarse  food  in  wooden  vessels.  The 
same  Curius  who  declared  a  citizen  to  be  dangerous  to  whom  seven 
acres  were  not  enough,^  refused  the  gold  of  the  Samnites ;  Fabricius 

'  Livy,  Ep.  xiv.     Rather,  ]ierhapp,  for  his  jihindering.     The   answer   which  Fabricius 
made  him  (Cic,  de  Oral.  ii.  C(i)  represents  him  as  a  plunderer. 
^  Phny,  Nat.  Hist,  xviii.  4. 


INTERNAL   STATE    OF   EOME   DURING   SAMNTTE    WAR.       501 

fh;it  of  Pyrrhus ;  and  Cineas,  when  introduced  to  the  Senate, 
thought  ho  saw  there  an  assembly  of  kings. 

"At  that  time,"  says  Valerius  Maximus,  "there  was  little 
or  scarcely  any  money,  some  slaves,  seven  acres  of  poor  land, 
poverty  in  families,  funerals  paid  for  by  the  state,  and  daughters 
without  dowry ;  but  illustrious  consulates,  wonderful  dictatorships, 
innvunerable  triumphs,  —  such  is  the  picture  of  these  old  times!"' 
Let  us  say  more  tamely  that,  thanks  to  the  Licinian  law  of  the 
limitation  of  property,^  Rome  had  neither  the  extreme  wealth  which 
sometimes  produces  insolent  pride,  nor  the  extreme  poverty  which 
causes  the  growth  of  envy  and  the  spirit  of  revolt.  The  greatest 
number  was  in  that  haj^py  mean  which  excites  to  labor,  gives 
value  to  a  small  possession,  and  puts  into  the  heart  the  desire  of 
energetically  defending  it. 

This  people  had  its  faults:  it  liked  work,  but  also  booty,  usury, 
litigation;  it  had  in  its  blood  the  she-wolf's  milk.  The  creditor  was 
hard  to  the  debtor,  the  father  to  his  son,  the  master  to  his  slaves, 
the  conqueror  to  the  conquered.  They  had  the  limited  intelligence 
of  the  peasant,  who  Ha'cs  with  his  head  bent  over  the  furrow,  with 
the  brutal  passions  of  dull  natures  and  the  vulgar  pride  of  physical 
force.  There  was  nothing'  generous,  nothing  elevated,  save  in  the 
very  few ;  neither  art,  philosophy,  nor  true  religion ;  as  its  ideal, 
gain,  and  power,  which  is  the  political  form  of  covetousness.  Was 
their  dome.stic  life  more  edifying  than  it  is  in  the  sequel  ?  Evil 
is  better  seen  in  the  societies  which  are  in  full  light  of  da}',  than  in 
those  whose  darkness  historj'  can  hardly  penetrate.  But  there  are 
vices  which  excess  of  wealth,  the  pleasures  of  a  too  easy  existence 
and  of  too  numerous  temptations,  develop  ;  with  these  the  Romans 
of  the  fourth  century  before  Christ  were  certainly  unacquainted. 

They  were  upright,  and  kept  their  plighted  word.  "Trust," 
said  a  later  proverb,  "'  a  treasure  to  a  Greek,  take  ten  sureties,  ten 
signatures  and  twenty  witnesses:  he  will  rob  you."  At  Rome,  a 
magistrate  had  in  his  hands  all  the  public  wealth,  and  to  prevent 

1  Val.  Max.,  IV.  iv.  6  and  11.  The  triumph  of  Curias  introduced,  by  what  Florus  .says, 
great  riches  into  the  city.  Silver  was  soon  so  abundant  that,  three  years  after  the  taking  of 
Tarentum,  silver  coin  was  struck.  Up  to  that  time  there  had  been  only  (ises  of  bronze. 
Polybius  (xviii.  2)  still  praises  the  poverty  of  Pauhis  Aemilius  and  of  Scipio  Aemilianus. 

2  Eo  anno  plerisque  dies  dicta  ab  aediUbus,  quia  plus  (juain  quod  leye  Jiidtum  eral,  agri 
possiderent.     (Livy,  x.  13.) 


502  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

liis  embezzling  it,  liis  oath,  was  sufficient.^  This  good  faitli  of  tlie 
individual,  this  probity  of  the  magistrate,  were  the  reflection  of  a 
more  general  virtue  which  existed  in  the  whole  body  of  citizens : 
absolute  respect  for  law,  a  spontaneous  obedience  to  established 
authority,  with  the  right  of  appeal  from  an  arlntrary  order.  "  The 
people  most  jealous  of  its  liberty  wliich  the  world  ever  saw  was 
at  the  same  time  the  most  submissive  to  its  magistrates  and  to 
lawful  power."  ^  Bossuet  was  right  in  Ijringing  together  these  two 
ideas,  which  to  so  many  men  are  contradictory :  it  is  their  union 
which  makes  citizens  truly  free,  and  states  really  strong. 

The  Roman  is  not  lovable,  but  he  extorts  admiration,  because, 
in  that  society,  if  the  man  is  little,  the  citizen  is  great.  He  is  so 
by  those  civic  virtues  through  which  he  deserved  empire,  by  the 
indomitable  courage  which  gave  it  him,  by  the  discipline,  in  the 
best  sense  of  the  word,  and  by  the  political  wisdom  which  pre- 
served it  to  him.  Thus  his  history,  in  which  the  poet  and  artist 
find  so  little  interest,  will  be  always  the  proper  school  of  pubhc 
men. 


IT.   The  Constitution  ;   Balance  of  Forces. 

The  dangers  of  the  Samnite  wars  had  restored  peace  between 
the  two  orders.  Little  rivalries  had  ceased  when  the  great  interest 
of  the  public  safety  was  concerned,  the  political  emancipation  of 
the  plebeians  was  fully  accomplished,  and  the  new  generation  of 
patricians,  brought  up  in  camps,  had  lost  the  remembrance  of  the 
popular  victories.  The  new  men  were  now  as  numerous  in  the 
Senate  as  the  descendants  of  the  old  families ;  and  the  services  as 
well  as  the  glory  of  Papirius  Cursor,  Fabius  Maximus,  Appius 
Caecus,  and  Valerius  Corvus,  effaced  neither  the  services  nor  the 
glory  of  the  two  Decii.  P.  Philo,  four  times  consul,  of  C.  Maenius, 
twice  dictator,  of  Caecilius  MeteUus,  who  commenced  the  renown 
of  this  family,  of  whom  Naevius  is   ol^liged  to  say :    "  The  MetelU 

^  [Tliis  st.itement  may  have  been  often  true,  but  suffered  many  sad  exceptions.  There 
was  great  corruption  among  Roman  public  men  later  on,  and  it  is  not  certain  that  their  political 
moraUty,  when  state  interests  were  concerned,  was  higher  than  that  of  Demosthenes.  Cf. 
my  Social  Life  in  Greece,  fourth  edition,  p.  424.  —  Ed.'] 

-  Bossuet,  Disc,  sur  rhist.  univ.,  part  3,  cap.  vi. 


INTEENAL   STATE  OF  ROME   DURING  SAMNITE  WAR.      503 

are  bom  consuls  at  Rome,"  of  Curius  Dentatns  and  Fabricius,  who 
were  plebeians  not  even  of  Roman  descent. 

There  was  imion  because  there  was  equality,  because  the 
aristocracy  of  blood  was  no  longer  known,  and  because  they  did 
not  yet  know  that  of  riches.  At  this  period  the  Roman  constitu- 
tion presented  the  wise  combination  of  royalty,  aristocracy,  and 
democracj^  which  Polybius,  Machiavelli,  and  Montesquieu  have 
admu-ed.  In  the  consulate,  there  was  unity  in  command ;  in  the 
Senate,  experience  in  counsel ;  in  the  people,  strength  in  action. 
These  three  estates  being  kept  mutually  within  just  limits,  all  the 
forces  of  the  state,  sometime  in  opposition,  had  at  last  found,  after 
a  struggle  of  more  than  two  centuries,  that  happy  state  of  equi- 
librium which  made  them  concur,  with  irresistible  power,  towards 
one  common  end,  —  the  grandeur  of  the  Republic. 

In  the  city  the  consuls  ^  were  the  chiefs  of  the  government ; 
but  there  were  two  of  them,  of  different  order,  and  their  inevitable 
rivalry  assured  the  preponderance  of  the  Senate,  to  which  they 
were  constrained  by  their  dearest  interests  to  show  a  prudent  def- 
erence. They  received  the  ambassadors  of  foreign  nations ;  they 
convoked  the  Senate  and  the  people,  proposed  laws,  drew  up  the 
senatus-consulta,  and  directed  the  other  magistrates ;  but  all  this 
power,  more  honorable  than  real,  might  break  down  against  the 
opposition  of  a  colleague  or  the  inviolable  authority  of  the  tribunate, 
against  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  who  made  the  laws,  agamst 
a  decree  of  the  Senate,  which  could  annul  the  power  of  a  consul  by 
causing  a  dictator  to  be  nominated.  In  the  army  the  consul  seems 
an  absolute  chief ;  he  chooses  a  part  of  the  legionary  tribunes,  fixes 
the  contingents  of  the  allies,  and  exercises  over  all  the  right  of  life 
and  death ;  but  without  the  Senate  he  has  neither  victuals,  clothes, 
nor  pay,  and  a  senatus-consultum  can  suddenly  stop  his  enterprises, 
give  him  a  successor,  suspend  him  from  his  command,  grant  or 
refuse  him  a  triumph.^  He  makes  treaties;  but  the  people  ratify 
them  or  reject  them.  He  acts,  he  decrees ;  but  the  tribunes  watch 
him,  and  by  their  veto  stop  him,  by  their  right  of  accusation  keep 

'  Apropos  of  consuls,  Cicero  utters  the  celebrated  but  dangerous  maxim  :  ollis  saluj:  populi 
suprema  lex  esto.     It  was  an  indirect  vindication  of  his  own  consulate. 

^  It  was  the  Senate  that  authorized  the  consul  to  borrow  from  the  treasury  the  amount 
necessary  for  covering  the  expense  of  this  solemnity.     (Polyb.,  vi.  5.) 


504     .  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

him  in  a  continual  suspense.  Lastly,  when  his  term  of  office  has 
expired,  he  must  render  an  account  to  the  peojole  to  receive  their 
plaudits,  which  promise  him  fresh  offices,  or  reproaches  and  murmurs, 
which  for  ever  close  against  him  entrance  to  high  office,  —  sometimes 
even  a  penalty  which  ruins  and  dishonors  him.^ 

Subjects,  allies,  and  foreign  sovereigns,  never  received  by  the 
Senate  but  when  assembled  in  the  temple  of  Bellona,  to  remind 
them  that  Rome  was  always  prepared  for  war,^  who  saw  it  settling 
their  differences,  replying  to  their  dej)uties,  sending  amongst  them 
commissioners,  and  granting  or  refusing  the  triumph  to  the  generals 
who  had  conquered  them,  looked  on  this  body  as  the  mistress  of 
the  Repulilic.'^  Even  at  Rome  the  senators,  appearing  always  clothed 
in  the  royal  purple  ;  holding  their  sittings  in  the  temples ;  discuss- 
ing important  affairs,  —  the  plans  of  generals  and  the  government 
of  conquered  countries ;  able  to  adjourn  the  assemblies  of  the  people 
or  pass  decrees  having  the  force  of  law ;  *  receiving  the  reports 
of  the  censors  and  quaestors  ;  authorizing  outlays,  public  works,  and 
alienations  of  the  domain  lands ;  watching  over  the  conservation 
of  the  religion  of  the  state,  the  prosecution  of  public  crimes,  the 
celebration  of  games  and  solemn  sacrifices ;  finally,  decreeing,  in 
case  of  peril,  supplications  to  the  gods  after  victory,  acts  of  thanks- 
giving, and  regulating  even  the  affairs  of  Heaven  by  granting 
temples  ■  and  the  freedom  of  the  city  to  foreign  divinities,  —  the 
senators,  I  .say,  seem  to  be  the  chiefs  in  the  state  by  the  extent  of 
their  public  rights,  as  they  were  by  their  dignity  and  the  respect 
which  was  attached  to  their  name.  But,  suljjeeted  to  the  irre- 
sponsible control  of  the  censors,  the  Senate  is  still  presided  over  by 

1  Postumius,  on  quitting  office,  was  condemned  to  pay  500,000  ases  (Livy,  Epitomt:,  xi.) ; 
Camillus  narrowly  escaped  being  fined  the  same  amount. 

-  This  temple,  vowed  by  Appius  in  29C  (Livy,  x.  19,  and  Pliny,  xxxv.  3),  was  built  outside 
the  city,  in  the  Field  of  !Mars.  The  Senate  met  there  to  receive  foreign  ambassadors  and  the 
consuls  who  asked  of  it  a  triumph.  At  the  entrance  of  this  temple  was  the  column  which  the 
fetial  struck  with  a  javelin  when  the  enemy  was  too  distant  to  jtermit  him  to  declare  war  from 
the  Roman  people.     (.See  p.  230.) 

^  In  England  also  the  people  are  little  concerned  with  foreign  affairs,  the  direction  of 
which  they  generally  leave  to  the  ministry. 

''  jMontesq.,  Espr.  des  Lois,  v.  8.  Legally  the  legislative  power  of  the  Senate  was  exer- 
cised only  in  matters  of  administration.  But  the  limit  was  very  difficult  to  fix,  and  more  than 
one  senatus-consultum  trespassed  on  the  territory  of  the  law.  The  Senate  later  on  took  the 
right  of  giving  dispensation  from  keeping  the  laws.  (Cic,  pro  lege  Man.  21.)  On  the  formal- 
ities followed  for  drawing  up  a  senatus-consultum.  see  Foucart,  Mem.  sur  an  senalus-cons., 
inedit  de  I'an  1 70. 


INTERNAL   STATE  OF   KOME   DURING   SAMNITE  WAR.       505 

the  consuLs,  who  direct  its  deliberations  as  they  jjlease.  Should 
they  be  agreed,  yet  would  it  not  be  possible,  without  the  consent 
of  the  tribunes,  either  to  assemble  or  pass  a  decree ;  and  the  legis- 
lative omnipotence  of  the  people  places  the  Senate  in  dependence 
on  the  centuries  and  tribes.  All  its  members  are,  besides, 
indirectly  nominated  by  the  people,  since  it  is  they  who  raise  to 
olHce,  and  it  is  by  office  that  the  Senate  is  attained.^ 

With  us  the  executive  can  be  questioned  respecting  its  acts  as  soon 
as  they  are  done ;  m  certain  cases  even  before  their  execution,  and 
this  can  stop  them.  At  Rome  the  magistrate  renders  an  account  only 
after  the  expiration  of  his  magistracy.  He  is  inviolable,  sacro- 
sanct,^ and  yields  only  to  the  interference  of  a  colleague,  the  veto 
of  a  tribune,  or  that  of  the  augurs.  Nor  can  he  be  proceeded 
asamst  even  for  a  crime  in  common  law. 

The  people,  the  highest  jury,^  an  electoral  and  legislative 
body,*  —  in  a  word,  the  true  sovereign  in  the  Forum,  —  finds  in  the 
civil  tribunals,  senators  as  judges,  in  the  army,  consuls  as  generals, 
the  former  armed  with  the  authority  of  the  laws  and  of  that  dis- 
cretionary power  which  an  uncertain  and  obscure  legislation  gives ; 
the  latter  with  a  discipline  which  commands  a  blind  obedience. 
The  plebeian  will  avoid  offending  those  who  could  be  avenged  on 

1  We  shall  see  later  how  Fabius  Buteo  filled  up  the  Senate  after  Cannae.  So  also  the 
senators  are  often  represented  as  chosen  by  the  people.  (Livv,  iv.  4  ;  Cic.,  pro  Sexlio,  65  ;  2'>'o 
Cluenl.,  u6.)  In  //e  Lcrjihui  (iii.  3)  Cicero  says  the  Senate  must  be  composed  of  all  tlie  former 
magistrates,  and  Sylla  passed  a  law  in  this  sense.  Yet  the  censors  could  inscribe  on  their  list 
any  whom  they  pleased;  but  the  lex  Ovinia  (p.  392)  obliged  them  to  summon  former  magis- 
trates first.     This  it  is  which  made  the  Senate  so  experienced  an  assembly. 

^  Livy,  ix.  9.  The  praetor  Lentulus,  an  accomplice  of  CatiUne,  could  only  be  proceeded 
against  after  he  had  abdicated  his  office.     (Cic,  Caiil.  iii.  6.) 

3  At  the  head  of  the  Uonian  constitution  Cicero  Qle  Lcij.,  iii.  3)  ])uts  the  precious  right  of 
appeal  [hke  our  Habeas  corpu.i.  —  Ed.']. 

*  The  jieople,  assembled  by  tribes,  appointed  the  tribunes,  aediles,  cjuaestors,  a  part  of  the 
legionary  tribunes,  the  chiefs  of  colonies,  the  commissioners  for  the  agrarian  laws,  the  duumviri 
iiiarilimi  (Aul.  Gell.,  xiii.  15;  Livy,  vii.  5,  ix.  30).  It  deliberated  in  the  concione.'i  and  voted 
in  the  assembly  of  the  tribes  (  plehiscitum)  on  the  propositions  of  the  tribunes,  which  sometimes 
referred  to  the  gravest  interests  of  the  state ;  on  the  granting  the  freedom  of  the  city  (Livy, 
xxxviii.  3(i);  on  the  powers  of  magistrates  (Livy,  xxii.  25,  26,  30).  Flaminius  brought  his 
agrarian  law  to  their  vote.  They  had  also  a  judicial  power  (Livy,  xxvi.  3,  4  ;  App.,  Bell. 
Civ.  i.  31).  In  the  comitia  centuriata  the  people  as  a  legislative  power  made  laws,  decided 
peace  and  war,  ratified  treaties,  and  received  the  accounts  of  the  magistrates  ;  as  an  electoral 
body  it  nominated  to  the  leading  offices;  as  supreme  tribunal  it  received  appeals  from  all 
the  courts,  pronounced  on  the  life  of  citizens,  on  the  crime  of  high  treason  (Livy,  vi.  20, 
xxvi.  3  ;  Cic,  de  Le//.  iii.  4,  1 9 ;  pro  Sext.  44,  51).  But  we  know  that  in  these  assemblies  the  rich 
and  the  high  class  easily  predominate,  and  that  the  multitude  is  reduced  to  an  unimportant  part. 


506  •  CONQUEST  OF  ITALY. 

him  as  suitor  or  legionary  for  las  hostile  vote  as  citizen.  In  the 
comitia;  even,  where  the  people  is  supreme,  nothing  is  left  to  the 
hazard  of  the  moment.  The  magistrate  who  calls  together  the  as- 
sembly limits  the  debate  ;  he  asks  either  a  Yes  or  a  No ;  he  allows 
no  inquiries;  and  the  people  reply,  Uti  rocjas  [as  you  propose],  for 
approval ;  Antiquo  [I  am  for  the  old],  for  rejection.  We  should  say 
now  that  the  assembly  had  neither  the  right  of  amendment  nor 
question.  Discussion  occurred  only  in  the  condones,  —  a  sort  of  pre- 
paratory assemblies,  where  no  voting  took  place.  If,  nevertheless, 
the  sovereign  people  sought  to  manifest  its  sovereignty,  it  could  be 
stopped  by  a  double  veto  :  in  the  comitia  tributa  by  that  of  the  tri- 
bunes ;  in  the  centuries  by  that  of  the  gods  expressed  by  the  augurs. 
Lastly,  the  farmers  of  the  revenue  and  contractors  for  public  works 
—  a  large  class  of  citizens  and  among  the  richest  —  were  still  more 
dependent  upon  the  Senate  and  the  censors,  who  decide  upon  bids, 
allow  commissions,  put  off  the  pay-day,  or  break  the  lease.-' 

There  were  none,  even  to  the  poorest,  who  had  not  their  days 
of  royalty.  On  the  eve  of  the  comitia  the  patrician  sinks  his 
nobility  to  mix  with  the  crowd,  to  caress  these  kings  of  a  few 
hours  who  give  place,  power,  and  glory.  He  takes  the  hard  palm 
of  the  peasant,  calls  the  most  obscure  citizen  by  his  name,^  and, 
later  on,  he  Avill  restore  to  the  people  for  one  election  all  that  he 
and  his  fathers  have  saved  out  of  the  pillage  of  many  provinces. 
Canvassing,  which  a  century  later  was  punished  as  producing 
venality,  tended  as  yet  only  to  draw  the  rich  and  poor  together, 
and   to   give    a   lesson   in    equality   to   the    great. 

"  Everybody  in  the  state,"  says  Polybius,  "  may,  therefore, 
damage  another  or  serve  it ;  hence  arises  their  harmony  and  the 
invincible   strength  of  the  Republic." 

A  moral  power,  the  censorshii?,  itself  uTCsponsible  and  un- 
limited   in    its    rights,    watched    over    the     mamteuance     of    this 

1  Polyb.  vi.  7,  II.  I  could  have  quoted  him  for  almost  every  detail  of  this  picture  of  the 
Roman  constitution.  'WTien  we  compare  it  with  that  which  Cicero  has  drawn  in  his  treatise 
de  Legibus  (iii.  3),  we  see  that  the  former  was  written  by  a  statesman,  the  latter  by  a  juris- 
consult and  a  philosopher,  who,  in  the  first  book  at  least,  is  pre-occupied  with  a  matter  for 
which  ancient  Rome  had  no  thought,  —  natural  law. 

■^  Cf.  Livy,  passitu ;  Plutarch,  in  the  Life  of  Coriolanus ;  and  the  curious  book  of  Quintus 
Cicero,  On  the  Candidal  arc  for  lite  ConsulalR.  [The  author  might  have  cited  the  canvassing 
of  great  English  nobles  at  parliamentary  elections,  especially  before  the  introduction  of  the 
ballot.  —  £</.] 


INTERNAL  STATE  OF  ROME  DUEESTG  SAMNITE  WAR. 


507 


equilibrium.  In  oriental  legislations,  the  principal  preservative 
of  the  constitution  is  religious  sentiment,  for  law  is  only  the 
expression  of  the  divine  will.  In  Greece  and  at  Rome,  Lycurgus 
and  Numa  also  gave  to  their  laws  the  sanction  of  the  gods.  But 
Solon  and  the  Romans  of  the  Republic,  further  removed  from  the 
sacerdotal  period,  confided  to  men  this  conservating  power :  Solon 
to  the  Areopagus,  the  Roman  constitution  to  the  censors.  At 
Athens,  the  Areopagus,  a  sort  of  tribunal  placed  outside  the 
executive,    was    never    sufficiently    strong    to   exercise    a   useful    in- 


SUOVETAIIRILIA.* 


fluence ;  ^  at  Rome,  the  censorship,  charged  with  very  important 
material  interests,  was  an  active  magistracy ;  the  political  importance 
grew,  and  asserted  a  moral  authority.*  Those  details  which  no  law 
could  anticipate,  those  innovations  which  silently  unsettle  republics 
by  destroying  equality,  the  censors  knew  how  to  reach  and  punish. 
They   often    expelled    po'werful    citizens    from    the    Senate    or    the 

^  Bas-relief  from  the  Louvre,  showin<;  the  ceremony  of  the  suovelaurilla.  Before  the  altar, 
the  magistrate,  standing  witli  veiled  head,  performed  the  functions  of  sacrificer ;  near  him  are 
two  assistants  or  camilli  carrying,  the  one  the  (u.erra,  or  incense-box,  the  other  the  vase  of 
libations,  giittus ;  behind  are  tlie  two  lictors  of  the  magistrate  with  their  fasces  ;  next  come  the 
victimarii  crowned  with  laurel,  leading  the  victims,  or  preparing  to  strike  them ;  lastly,  on  the 
second  slab,  are  seen  some  assistants  at  the  ceremony.     See  p.  233. 

-  [I  think  the  influence  of  the  Athenian  Areopagus  is  underrated  by  the  author.  —  Ed.'] 
*  Censores  poputi  aevitates,  soholcs,  famlUas,  pecuniasque  censento ;  urhis  tecta.  lempla,  inas, 
aqttas,  aerarium,  vectir/alia  tuento,  populique  partes  in  tribus  discrihunto,  exin  pecunias:,  acvitales, 
ordines  partinnto,  equilum  pedilumque  pruUm  describunto,  caelibes  esse  prohibento,  mores  poputi 
regunio,  prohrum  in  scnatu  ne  reliquunto,  Bini  sunto.     (Cic.  de  Leg.  iii,  3.) 


508    .  COJSTQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

equestrian  order,  or  deprived  them  of  tlieir  political  rights,  and  in 
the  re-partition  of  classes  "  they  exercised  legislation  even  over  the 
body  which  had  the  legislative  power,"  ^  and  they  placed  their 
acts  under  the  sanction  of  religion,  by  offering  at  the  closing  of 
the  census  the  solemn  sacrifice  of  the  suovetaurilia.  By  their 
uncontrolled  power  they  came  to  the  aid  of  the  executive  power, 
—  always  so  weak  in  democracies. 

In  every  state  it  is  a  grave  qiiestion  to  know  in  whose  hand 
the  judicial  power  should  be  placed.  This  question  troubled  the 
last  century  of  the  Roman  Rejoublic ;  in  anterior  peri(jds  it  had 
received  an  original  solution.  The  consul,  and  then  the  praetor, 
did  not  himself  judge.  For  each  case  he  gave  the  rule  of  law 
which  ought  to  be  applied,  and  the  jiidges  [juiy]  appointed  by 
him,  with  the  agreement  of  the  parties,  decided  the  question  of 
fact.  Thus  the  process  was  double,  in  jure  before  the  praetor,  in 
iudicio  before  the  judges  [jury].  For  important  causes  the  judges 
were  chosen  from  the  Senate :  for  less  important  matters  from  the 
body  of  centumvirs  selected  to  the  number  of  three  by  each  of 
the  thirty-five  tribes.  Thus,  the  organization  of  civil  justice  was, 
in  some  respects,  that  which  we  have  for  criminal  justice ;  the 
magistrate  declared  the  application  of  the  law,  and  judices  or  jurors 
pronounced  on  the  point  of  fact. 

Criminal  justice  was  exercised  by  the  people.  Whoever  had 
violated  the  public  peace,  was  amenable  to  the  sovereign  assembly, 
which  also  received  appeals  brought  against  the  decisions  of  the 
magistrates ;  the  latter,  in  virtue  of  their  duty  to  make  the  law 
respected,  punished  offences,  a  certain  number  of  which  would  be 
regarded  by  us  as  crimes.  The  chastisement  was  the  rod  for  the 
lower  classes ;  for  the  others,  a  fine.  The  consuls  and  praetors  had, 
besides,  preserved  from  royalty  the  right  of  nominating,  for  grave 
and  pressing  cases,  criminal  quaestors,  —  an  exceptional  jurisdiction 
which  became  permanent,  quaestiones  fer-petuae.  However,  criminal 
justice  was  rarely  exercised,  for  domestic  justice  dealt  with  the 
crimes  of  the  slave,  of  the  son,  if  he  were  not  emancipated,  and 
of  the  wife  in  manu.  The  master,  the  father,  and  the  husband 
pronounced   in  the  interior  of   the  house  the  sentence,  and    had   it 

1  Montesijuieu,  Esprit  des  Lois,  Bk.  xi.  caj).  -xvi. 


INTERNAL   STATE   OF   ROME   DURING   SAMNITE   WAR.       509 

executed.  There  was  not  then,  at  the  period  of  llonian  history 
now  reached,  a  body  of  citizens  who  were  invested  with  judicial 
authority,  and  who,  tliauks  to  tliat  privilege,  could  menace  the 
liberty  of  the  other  classes.  Justice  was,  therefore,  now  equal  to 
all ;  in  a  century  it  was  so  no  more. 

This  so  well  balanced  constitution,  however,  exposed  the 
state  to  some  great  perils.  It  was  not  written  down ;  and  the 
rights  of  the  assemblies  or  the  magistrates  having  never  been 
clearly  defined,  it  could  happen  that  the  different  jurisdictions 
should  clash,  and  hence  cause  disturbance ;  or  that  one,  aided  by 
circumstances,  should  gain  a  dangerous  preponderance  in  the  state. 
Thus,  Hortensius  gave  an  equal  authority  to  the  decisions  of  the 
Senate  and  of  the  people.  Let  these  two  powers  array  themselves 
against  each  other,  and  there  is  no  legal  force  in  the  state,  save  the 
violent  and  tempoi-ary  remedy  of  the  dictatorship,  which  can  end 
this  struggle  without  conflicts.  But  the  prudence  of  the  Senate  was 
able  for  a  century  and  a  half  to  avoid  the  danger.  It  caused  a 
division  to  be  made  between  itself  and  the  people  of  the  matters 
respecting  which  legislative  omnipotence  should  be  exercised.  T 
the  people  fell  the  elections  and  the  laws  of  internal  organization  : 
to  the  Senate,  the  administration  of  finance  and  foreign  affairs ; 
to  the  magistrates,  the  unlimited  rights  of  the  m^jerafm  for  the 
exercise   of   the  executive   power. 

Then,  too,  if  this  people  was  continually  urged  on  by  new 
wants,  it  was  constantly  also  held  in  check  by  its  respect  for 
ancient  times.  As  long  as  Rome  remained'  herself,  she  had,  like 
the  image  of  her  god  Janus,  her  eyes  turned  at  the  same  time 
towards  the  present  and  the  past.  The  custom  of  their  ancestors, 
mos  majorum,  preserved  an  authority  which  often  permitted  the 
supplementing  or  evading  of  the  written  law ;  and  this  authority 
of  custom  was  a  powerful  principle  of  social  conservation. 


III.    Military  Organization. 

Abroad,  this  government  was  protected  by  the  best  armies 
yet  known.  No  adversary,  no  enterprise  could  affright  the  con- 
querors of  the  Samnites  and  Pyrrhus.     They  had  triumphed  over 


() 


510-  CONQUEST   OF  ITALY. 

all  enemies  and  obstacles ;  over  Greek  tactics  ^  as  well  as  Gallic 
dash  and  Samnite  obstinacy ;  the  elephants  of  Pyrrhus  had  as- 
tonished them  only  once.^  Surrounded  l^y  enemies,  the  Romans 
had,  for  three  quarters  of  a  century,  known  no  other  art  than  war, 
no  other  exercise  than  arms.  They  were  not  only  the  bravest 
soldiers,  the  best  disciplined  in  Italy,  but  the  most  active  and 
strong.  The  average  military  march  was  24  millia  in  5  hours 
(nearly  3  miles  per  hour),  and  during  these  marches  they  carried 
their  arms,  rations  for  five  days,  stakes  for  encamping,  —  in  all,  at 
least   60  Roman  pounds. 

In  the  intervals  between  the  campaigns  drill  Avas  continued  in 
the  Field  of  Mars.  They  shot  javelins  and  arrows,  fought  with 
the  sword,  ran  and  leaped  in  full  armor,  or  crossed  the  Tiber 
swimming,  employing  for  these  exercises  weapons  of  a  weight  double 
that  of  ordinary  arms.  The  noblest  citizens  took  part  in  these 
games ;  consuls,  those  who  had  triumphed,  contended  in  strength, 
address  and  agility,  showing  to  this  people  of  soldiers  that  the 
generals  had  also  the  qualities  of  the  legionary. 

All  other  Powers  fought  at  that  time  with  mercenaries ;  Rome 
alone  had  a  national  army,  from  which  the  foreigner,  the  freedman, 
the  proletary  were  excluded,  and  which  had  already  established 
that  devotion  to  the  colors  which  has  wrought  such  miracles.* 

All  the  wealthy  citizens  had  to  pass  through  this  rude  school 
of  discipline,  devotion,  and  self-denial.  No  one,  says  Polybius, 
can  be  elected  to  a  magistracy  who  has  not  been  in  ten  campaigns. 

1  The  Macedonian  phalanx  had  its  force  merely  from  impetus;  barbarian  armies  from 
the  individual  courage  of  their  soldiers.  In  the  one  the  indi\idual  was  nothing,  and  the  mass 
everything;  in  the  others,  the  mass  nothing,  the  individual  everything.  The  legion,  by  its 
division  into  maniples,  left  full  swing  to  individual  courage,  and  preserved  full  action  to  the 
mass.  Hannibal  himself  did  homage  to  the  organization  of  the  Koman  armies  by  arming  his 
veterans  like  the  legionaries.  (Polyb.,  xviii.  11.)  [The  power  of  the  phalanx  is  perhaps 
underrated  here.  As  a  formation,  like  the  modern  column,  intended  to  break  the  old  e.x- 
tended  lines,  it  was  most  effective,  and  it  was  superior  to  the  Roman  order  of  battle  when  they 
met  on  even  ground.  But  the  difficulty  of  marching  it  through  any  rough  or  uneven  ground 
made  it  often  useless,  and  so  it  was  that  Alexander  never  won  a  battle  with  his  phalanx,  but 
always  used  it  as  the  defensive  arm  of  his  Hne  of  battle,  —  the  cavalry  and  light  footguards  being 
the  offensive.  At  the  very  time  of  his  death  he  was  devising  means  to  make  the  phalan.x  more 
serviceable,  and  resolvable  into  smaller  and  more  active  subdivisions  when  need  arose.  —  EdJ] 

^  It  has  always  been  said  that  Pyrrhus  taught  the  Romans  how  to  pitch  a  camp.  The 
description  of  Polybius  makes  one  think  of  the  urbs  quadrata  of  the  Etruscans ;  and  he  himself 
contrasts  the  regularity  of  a  Roman  camp  to  the  confusion  which  prevailed  in  a  Greek  one. 

8  On  the  return  from  every  campaign  the  standards  were  placed  in  the  aerariutn. 


INTERNAL  STATE    OF  ROME   DURING   SAMNITE   WAR.       511 

To  what    an    extent   must    this   law   have    raised    the    dignity    and 
force  of  the  army ! 

We  have  followed  the  Romans  to  the  Senate  and  the  Forum; 
we  have  shown  their  public  as  well  as  their  private  life.  This 
study  would  be  incomplete  if  we  did 
not  see  them  in  camp.  Military 
organization  is  for  all  peoples  a  very 
serious  matter.  Without  soldiers 
formed  in  the  gymnasia  of  Greece,  the 
Persians  had  been  conquerors  at  Mara- 
thon and  Plataea ;  without  the  phalanx 
of  Philip,  Alexander  had  not  set  out 
from  Macedonia ;  without  the  legion, 
Italy  and  the  world  would  have  been 
given  up  to  the  barbarians  before 
civilization  could  have  taken  such  root 
as  not  to  be  entirely  extirpated  by 
them.  The  picture  of  the  Roman  army 
necessarily,  therefore,  forms  part  of 
Rome's  history ;  and  to  trace  it  we 
have  only  to  abridge,  while  supple- 
menting it  in  some  points,  the  account 
by  Polybius,  who,  if  not  a  great 
writer,  was  the  most  intelligent  ob- 
server of  antiquity.^ 

'•  After  the  election  of  the  consuls, 
24  tribunes,  always  of  senatorial  or 
equestrian  order,  were  appointed,  16  by  the  people,  8  by  the 
consuls,  for  the  annual  levy,  which  is  usually  of  four  legions.^ 
They  were  chosen  in  such  a  way  that  14  of  them  were  selected 
from  those  who  had  at  least  served  five  years.  And  that  was  easy, 
since  all  the  citizens  were  obliged,  iip  to  forty-six  years,  to  carrj'^ 
arms,  either  ten  years  in  the  cavalry,  or  sixteen  years  in  the 
infantry.     Only  those  were  excepted  whose  property  did  not  exceed 


EOMAN   SOLDIER.'' 


^  Fragment  of  book  vi.  19-42. 

'■^  Taken  from  the  work  of  M.  Lindensclimidt,  keeper  of  the  Museum  of  Antiquities 
of  Mayence,  Die  Alterthilmer  unserer  heidnischen  Vorzeit. 

2  In  207,  the  levy  being  of  23  legions,  the  comitia  nominated  the  twenty-four  tribunes  of 
the  first  four  legions;  the  consuls  designated  all  the  others.     (Livy,  .\xvii.  36.) 


512- 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


400  drachmae,  and  who  were  reserved  for  the  navy.  When 
necessity  arose,  even  they  were  taken  for  the  infantry,  and  then 
their  military  obligation  was  twenty  years'  service. 

"  Each  legion  has  six  tribunes,  who  command  the  legion  by  turns 

for  two  months  under  the  superior  orders 
of  the  consul ;  and  care  is  taken  that  this 
body  of  officers  is  made  up  in  almost  equal 
proj^ortions  of  young  and  veteran  tribunes. 
"  When  there  is  need  to  make  a  levy, 
ordinarily  of  four  legions,  all  Romans  of 
age  to  bear  arms  are  summoned  to  the 
Capitol.  There  the  military  tribunes  draw 
the  tribes  by  lot  and  choose  in  the  first 
four  men  equal,  as  far  as  possible,  in 
height,  age,  and  strength.  The  tribunes 
of  the  first  legion  make  their  choice  first, 
then  those  of  the  second,  and  so  of  the 
rest.  After  these  four  other  citizens  come 
forward ;  it  is  then  the  tribunes  of  the 
second  legion  who  make  their  choice  the 
first ;  those  of  the  third  afterward ;  and 
so  of  the  rest.  The  same  order  is  ob- 
served till  the  finish,  whence  the  result 
is  that  each  legion  is  made  up  of  men  of  the  same  age  and 
strength,  generally  to  the  number  of  four  thousand  two  hundred, 
and  of  five  thousand  when  danger  presses.'^  In  respect  of  the 
horse  the  censor  selects  them  according  to  the  state  of  the  revenue, 
three  hundred  to  each  legion.  When  the  levy  is  over  the  tribunes 
assemble  their  legion,  and,  choosing  one  of  the  l)ravest,  they  make 
him  swear  that  he  will  obey  the  orders  of  the  chiefs  and  do  all 
he  can  to  carry  them  out.  The  others,  passing  in  turn  before 
the  tribune,  take  the  same  oath  by  pronouncing  the  words,  Idem 
in  me.     [It  was  equivalent  to  our  formula,  /  swear  it?'\ 


SOMAN   SOLDIER.' 


^  Lindenschmidt,  op.  cit. 

^  According  to  Livy  (viii.  8)  five  thousand  was  the  regular  number ;  later  on  it  reached 
six  thousand.     (Cf.  Livy,  xlii.  31  ;  and  Suidas,  s.  v.  Xcytav  .  .  .  i^aKicrxO^toi.} 

'  This  oath  was  called  sacramenluin,  because  he  who  took  it  became  cursed  or  devoted  to 
the  infernal  gods  if  he  broke  it.  Seneca  says,  too  :  primum  militiae  vinculum  est  religio  tt 
signorum  amor  et  deserendi  nefas.     (Ep.  95.) 


INTERNAL   STATE   OF  EOME   DUEING   SAMNITE    WAR.       513 


"  At  the  same  time  the  consuls  gave  information  to  the  cities 
of  Italy,  whence  they  wish  to  draw  auxiliaries,  as  to  the  number 
of  men  they  require,  the  day,  and  place  of  assembly.  The  levy 
takes  place  in  these  cities 
as  at  Rome,  the  same  or- 
der, the  same  oath.  A  chief 
and  quaestor  is  given  to 
these  troops,  and  they  are 
marched  off. 

"The  tribunes,  after  ad- 
ministering the  oath,  inform 
the  legions  of  the  day  and 
place  where  they  must  as- 
semble without  arms  ;  then 
he    dismisses    them.      When 

assembled  on  the  day  fixed, 

of  the  yomigest  and  poorest 

the     velites     were      formed ; . 

those  who  followed  them  in 

age  formed  the  hastati ;  the 

strongest  and  most  vigorous 

composed  the  2^')'incipes  ;  and 

the    oldest     were    taken    to 

form  the  triarii.     Thus  each 

legion  was  composed  of  four 

sorts  of  soldiers,  who  differed  in  name,  age,  and  arms  :    600  triarii, 

1,200  principes,  as  many  hastati ;    the  rest  formed  the  velites. 

"  The  velites  were  armed  with  a  helmet  without  crest,  a  sword, 

a  round  buckler,   3    feet  in  diameter,  several  javelins,  the  wood  of 

which  was  2  cubits  long   and   an  inch  thick.     The  point,  9  inches 

long,'-  is  so  tapering  that  at  the  first   stroke   it  warps,  so   that  the 

enemy  is  unable  to  use  it.^ 

"  The  hastati   have  complete   armor,   that    is  to    say,    a   convex 

buckler,    2|-  feet   broad   and    4    long.      It   is    made  of    two    planks 

glued   together,    and  covered    outside   with   linen,    then   with   calf- 

^  LindensL'hmiJt,  op.  cit. 

-  The  Greek  foot  =  1  ft.  0.135  in.  ;  the  digitus  =:. 7584  in.;  the  spithame=:  9.10125  in.; 
the  cubit  =  1  ft.  6.2025  in. 

'  Livy,  xxvi.  4,  says  that  the  velites  each  had  seven  of  these  darts. 
VOL.  I.  33 


ROMAN    HORSE-SOLDIER.l 


514  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

skin.  The  edges  of  this  l^uckler  above  and  below  are  mounted 
with  iron,  and  the  convex  part  is  covered  with  a  plate  of  the 
same  metal,  to  ward  off  darts  sent  with  great  force.  The  hastati  ■ 
carry  their  sword  on  the  right  thigh ;  the  blade  is  strong,  and 
strikes  both  cut  and  thrust.^  They  have,  besides  two  jjila,  a 
bronze  casque  and  buskins.  One  of  these  two  javelins  is  round 
or  square,  and  4  digits  thick ;  the  other  is  lighter,  but  the  stafE  of 
both  is  3  cubits  long,  and  the  iron  as  much.^  On  their  helmet  is  a 
red  or  black  plume,  formed  of  three  straight  feathers,  a  cubit  high, 
—  a  thing  which  makes  them  aj^pear  taller  and  more  formidable. 
The  poorer  soldiers  wear,  besides,  on  the  breast  a  plate  of  bronze, 
which  is  12  digits  in  diameter.  But  those  whose  wealth  exceeds 
10,000  drachmas  have,  instead  of  this  breastplate,  a  coat  of  mail. 
The  principes  and  triarii  have  the  same  arms,  only  the  latter  have 
but  one  lance  {hasta  or  Sopv). 

"  In  each  of  these  three  bodies  they  select  —  putting  aside 
the  youngest  —  twenty  of  the  most  prudent  and  brave,  to  make 
them  centurions.  The  first  chosen  has  a  voice  in  the  council. 
There  are  twenty  other  officers  of  an  inferior  rank,  optiones,  who 
are  chosen  by  the  first  twenty  to  lead  the  rear-guard.  Each 
corps  is  divided  into  ten  maniples^  with  the  exception  of  the 
velites,  which  are  divided  in  equal  niunbers  among  the  three 
other  corps.     The  centurions  choose  in  their  companies  two  of  the 

1  This  sword  of  which  Polybius  sjieaks  was  the  Sjianish  sword,  adopted  by  the  Romans 
during  the  Second  Punic  War,  just  as  they  must  have  taken  the  piluin  from  the  Etrus- 
cans. There  has  been  found  at  Vulci,  among  some  old  Etruscan  arms,  an  iron  pilum- 
head. 

-  That  would  make  6  cubits  or  9  feet ;  but  as  a  part  of  the  iron  entered  the  wood,  where 
it  was  fastened  by  a  socket,  the  pilum  was  somewhat  shorter.  Polybius  makes  it  also  too 
heavy  for  the  thickness  which  he  gives  it,  unless  he  meant  the  jjllum  murale,  which  played 
the  part  of  our  siege  muskets,  which  are  much  larger  than  the  ordinary  musket.  AVe  shall 
see  the  changes  made  by  Marius  and  Caesar  in  the  pilum,  —  the  arm  with  which  the  Romans 
conquered  the  world. 

^  The  legion  had  then  thirty  maniples  divided  into  two  centuries,  each  commanded  by  a 
centurion,  so  that  there  were  sixty  of  these  officers  to  a  legion.  The  centurio  prior  commanded 
the  first  maniple,  and  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  right  wing ;  the  centurio  posterior  served 
as  his  lieutenant,  if  needful,  took  his  place,  and  had  his  place  in  battle  at  the  left  wing.  The 
distinctive  sign  of  the  centurion  was  a  vine-stock,  with  which  he  might  strike  the  soldiers. 
The  allies,  in  case  of  fault,  were  beaten  with  rods  :  que7n  militem  extra  ordinem  deprehendit,  si 
Romanus  essct,  vitibus,  si  extraneus,  fustibus  cecidit.  (Livy,  Ep.  Ivii.)  A  cohort  was  the 
union  of  a  maniple  of  hastati  with  another  of  principes  and  a  third  of  triarii,  each  with 
the  velites  which  belonged  to  them.  The  cohort  was  therefore  the  reduction  to  the  tenth 
of  the  whole  legion.     (Cincius,  op.  Aul.  Gell.  xvi.  4.) 


INTERNAL   STATE   OF  EOME  DURING   SAMNITE  WAR.      515 


^ 


^ 


strongest    and    bravest     men    to    carry    the     standards,    vexillarii, 
signifcri} 

"■  The  cavah'j  is  di\idcd  in  the  saiiu;  manner  into  ten  com- 
l)anies  or  turmae ;  eacl^  of  tliera  has  three 
ofiicers,  of  whom  the  first  nominated  com- 
mands the  wliole  company.  These  officers 
choose  three  others  of  a  lower  rank  to  con- 
trol the  rear  ranks.  The  arms  of  the  cavalry 
are  a  cuirass,  a  solid  buckler,  and  a  strong 
lance  with  iron  at  its  butt,  in  order  that  it 
might  still  be  used  when  its  point  was 
broken.^ 

"  After  the  tribunes  had  thus  divided 
the  troops,  and  given  the  necessary  orders 
for  arms,  they  dismissed  the  assembly  until 
the  day  on  which  the  soldiers  had  sworn 
to  rejoin.  Nothing  can  release  them  from 
their  oath  except  the  auspices  or  insur- 
mountable difficulties.  Each  consul  appoints 
a  separate  meeting  for  the  troops  intended 
for  him,  —  generally  the  half  of  the  auxiliary 
allies  and  two  Roman  legions.  When  the 
allies  have  joined,  twelve  officers  chosen  by 
the  consuls,  and  who  are  styled  prefects,  are 
charged  with  regulating  their  distribution. 
They  put  on  one  side  the  best  formed  and 
bravest  men  for  the  cavalry  and  infantry, 
which  ^re  to  form  the  consul's  body-guard. 
These  are  styled  the  extraordinarii.  The 
prefects  divide  the  rest  into  two  corps,  one  of  which  is  called 
the  right  wing,  and  the  other  the  left  wing." 

On  the  field  of  battle  the  legion  formed  three  lines,  —  in  the 
first,  the  hastati ;  in  the  second,  the  principes  ;  in  the  third,  the 
triaril ;  all  divided  into  six  maniples,  in  raoiks  of  20  in  front  and 

'  Before  Marius  the  Romans  put  the  image  of  the  wolf  on  their  standards.  (Pliny,  Nat. 
Hist.  X.  4.) 

2  The  cavalry  did  not  use  stirrups,  and  practised  vaulting  on  horseback  fully  armed, 
(Veg.,  i.  17.) 

'  De  Reffye,  Les  Ames  d'AUse,  1864,  p.  839. 


y 


THE    PILUM.^ 


516  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

6  deep.  In  close  order,  confer tis  ordinibus,  the  soldiers  were 
stationed  3  feet  apart,  in  every  direction,  so  as  to  have  enough 
space  for  using  their  arms.  A  similar  interval  separated  the  ten 
maniples  of  each  line,  so  that  the  front  of  a  legion  in  battle  array 
■was  about  617  yards,  without  counting  the  space  reserved  for  the 
cavalry,  which  the  general  generally  placed  at  the  wings,  and 
which  took  up  a  space  of  nearly  5  feet  for  each  horse.  In 
extended  order,  laxatis  ordinibus,  the  soldiers  were  separated  from 
one  another  by  an  interval  of  6  feet,  which  doubled  the  line  of 
front. 

To  each  maniple  of  hastati  and  principes  were  joined  forty 
velites,  who  formed  behind  the  heavy  infantry  a  sixth  and  seventh 
rank  of  light  troops.  The  velites  passed  through  the  intervals  to 
commence  the  action  as  skirmishers,  re-entered  again  Avhen  the 
hastati  closed  with  the  enemy,  or  formed  with  them,  if  they  could 
still  hurl  their  darts  to  advantage  against  the  enemy.  The 
Romans  did  not  employ  slingers  and  archers  till  later.  If  the 
hastati  gave  way,  they  retired  by  the  intervals  between  the  principes 
in  their  rear ;  and  while  the  latter  fought,  the  triarii,  kneeling 
and  protected  by  their  bucklers,  waited  the  moment  for  coming 
into  action. 

"  The  position  for  the  camp  is  chosen  with  great  care.  When 
once  the  site  has  been  designated,  the  spot  is  selected  from  which 
the  geiieral  can  most  easily  see  everything ;  and  there  is  fixed 
a  standard.  Around  is  measured  off  a  square  space,  each  side 
of  which  is  distant  a  hundred  feet  from  the  standard  ;  this  is  the 
praetorium.  To  the  left  and  right  of  the  praetorium  are  the  forum, 
or  market,  and  the  quaestorium,  i.  e.,  the  treasury  and  arsenal.  The 
legions  are  stationed  on  the  side  which  is  most  convenient  for  getting 
water  and  forage.  The  twelve  tribunes,  if  there  are  only  two  legions, 
are  lodged  in  a  right  line,  parallel  to  the  praetorium,  and  at  a  dis- 
tance of  fifty  feet,  their  tents  facing  the  troops,  whose  tents  begin  a 
hundred  feet  farther  off,  in  a  line  also  parallel.^  The  chief  street  (  Via 
Principalis),  a  hundred  feet  wide,  extends  across  the  camp  in  front 
of  the  tribunes'  tents  ;  the  Via  Quintana,  parallel  to  this,  is  fifty 
feet  wide ;  and  narrower  ways  (vzae)  intersect  these  at  right  angles. 

1  The  tents,  made  of  skins,  upheld  by  poles,  each  held  ten  men.  [For  further  details 
of  the  arrangement  of  the  troops,  see  the  plan.] 


mXEKNAL   STATE   OF  ROME  DURING   SAMNITE    WAR.        517 


III. 
Ill 

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PLAN  OF  TUK  OKDEB  OK  BATTLE. 


518 


CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 


"From  the  entrenchment  ^  to  the  tents  there  is  a  distance  of 
200  feet ;  this  space  serves  to  facilitate  the  entrance  and  departure 
of  the  troops.  Cattle  and  whatever  may  he  taken  from  the  enemy 
are  also  put  there.  Another  considerable  advantage  is  that  in 
night  attacks  neither  fire  nor  dart  can  easily  reach  the  tents. 

'•If  it  happen  that  four  legions  and  two  consuls  camp 
together,  the  arrangement  is  the  same  for  each  army ;  only  we  must 


.imi|i.,iail.lll,milll.llllimiiillllMllillii!iilliil!llihiiih ir:i.!l.',.!;!:ii.':';;M3..;JHfai:in!xVl|i|' :ii,MlliM,mi.'iuiini>ili, 

iMAM  '  iMM 


KOMAN   CAMP. 


1.  Porta  praetoria. 

2.  Porta  decumana. 

3.  Porta  dextra. 

4.  Porta  sinistra. 

5.  Praetorium. 

6.  Forum. 


7.  Quaestorium.  13. 

8.  Tribnni.  14. 

9.  Praefecti  sociorum.  15. 

10.  Legati.  16. 

11.  Pedites  delecti.  17. 

12.  Equites  delecti.  18. 


Equites  extraord. 
Pedite-s  extraord. 
Auxilia. 

Pedites  sociorum. 
Equites  sociorum. 
Hastati. 


9.  Priucipes. 

20.  Triarii. 

21.  Equites  Romani. 

22.  Ara. 

23.  Via  Principalis. 

24.  Via  Quintana. 


imagine  two  armies  turned  towards  one  another,  and  joined  where 
the  extraordinarii  of  both  are  placed,  —  that  is  to  say,  by  the  rear  of 
the  camp ;  and  the  latter  then  forms  an  oblong,  covering  a  space 
double  the  first. 


'  The  camp  was  defended  by  a  ditch  9,  11,  12,  13,  or  17  feet  broad,  and  8  or  9  deep. 
The  earth  which  was  dug  up  was  thrown  inside  the  camp  in  such  a  way  as  to  form  an  em- 
bankment 4  feet  high,  on  which  was  fixed  palisading  strongly  interlaced.  The'  sutlers  and 
servants  encamped  outside  the  gates  in  the  proceslria. 


INTEKNAL   STATE   OF   ROME   DURING    SAMNITE   WAR.      519 

"  When  once  the  camp  is  arranged,  the  tribunes  receive  the 
oath  from  all,  whether  free  or  slaves,  that  they  will  not  steal  any- 
thing in  the  camp,  and  that  if  they  find  anything  they  will  bring 
it  to  the  praetorium.  Then  two  maniples,  made  np  of  equal 
numbers  of  principes  and  hastati  from  eac^h  legion,  are  set  to  guard 
the  place  which  extends  in  front  of  the  tril)unes'  tents,  and  which 
the  soldiers  occupy  during  the  day.  The  tent  and  baggage  of  each 
tribune  are,  besides,  guarded  by  four  soldiers.  These  maniples, 
drawn  by  lot  from  among  the  principes  and  hastati,  furnish  this 
guard  daily,  which  is  also  intended  to  exalt  the  dignity  of  the 
tribunes.  The  triarii,  exempt  from  this  service,  guard  the  horses 
for  the  squadron  placed  behind  them.  They  have  to  prevent  these 
horses  from  getting  entangled  in  their  halters  or  from  causing  by 
their  escape  any  tumult  in  the  camp.  A  maniple  is  always  on 
guard  at  the  consul's  tent. 

"  The  allies  make  two  sides  of  the  ditch  and  entrenchment, 
the  Romans  the  two  others,  one  by  each  legion.  Each  side  is 
allotted  to  parties,  according  to  the  number  of  the  maniples,  and 
for  each  party  a  centurion  supervises  the  work ;  when  the  side  is 
finished,  two  tribunes  examine  and  approve  it. 

"  The  tribunes  were  charged  with  the  discipline  of  the  camp. 
Two  of  them  commanded  in  turn  together  for  two  months.  This 
duty  was  among  the  allies  performed  by  the  praefecti.  At  day 
the  centurions  waited  at  the  tents  of  the  trilumes,  and  the  latter 
at  that  of  the  consul,  from  whom  they  took  their  orders. 

"  The  watchword  for  the  night  is  given  in  the  following  manner  : 
one  soldier,  exempt  from  all  guard-duty,  is  chosen  from  each  of 
the  turmae  of  cavalry  and  the  maniples  of  infantry  quartered  in 
the  last  line.  Every  day,  a  little  before  sunset,  the  soldier  betakes 
himself  to  the  tribune's  tent,  and  there  receives  the  watchword, 
which  is  written  on  a  little  piece  of  wood,  and  then  returns  to  his 
company.  His  officer,  taking  witnesses,  carries  it  to  the  officer  of 
the  next  company,  and  the  latter  in  his  turn  carries  it  to  the  next ; 
and  so  on,  until  the  watchword,  having  passed  through  all  the 
maniples,  is  returned  to  the  tribunes  before  night.  General  orders 
were  sometimes  circulated  in  the  same  way. 

"  A  whole  maniple  guards  the  praetorium  during  the  night. 
The  tribunes  and  the  horses  are  also  guarded  by  sentries,  who  are 


520     •  CONQUEST   OF  ITALY. 

taken  from  the  maniples.  Ordinarily  three  sentries  are  given  to 
the  quaestor.  The  guard  of  each  corps  is  taken  from  the  corps 
itself.  The  exterior  sides  are  confided  to  the  care  of  the  velites, 
who  during  the  day  mount  guard  along  the  entrenchment ;  there 
^re,  besides,  ten  at  each  gate  of  the  camp. 

"  The  cavalry  make  the  rounds.  It  is  the  first  maniple  of 
the  triarii  whose  centurion  is  charged  to  sound  the  trumpet  at 
every  hour  when  the  guard  must  be  mounted.  The  signal  given, 
the  horseman  on  whom  the  first  guard  has  fallen  makes  the 
round,  accompanied  by  some  friends  whom  he  uses  as  witnesses, 
and  he  visits  not  only  the  guards  posted  on  the  entrenchment  and 
at  the  gates,  but  also  all  those  who  are  at  each  company  of  foot 
and  horse.  If  he  finds  the  sentinels  of  the  first  watch  on  the  alert 
he  receives  from  them  a  small  piece  of  wood,  on  which  is  written 
the  name  of  the  legion,  the  number  of  the  maniple  and  century  of 
which  tlie  soldiers  on  guard  make  part.  If  any  one  is  asleep  or 
absent  he  calls  to  witness  those  who  accompanied  him,  and  retires. 
The  other  rounds  are  made  in  a  similar  way.  At  each  watch  they 
soimd  the  trumpet,  so  that  those  who  have  to  make  the  round  and 
those  who  form  the  guard  may  be  warned  at  the  same  time. 

"  Those  who  have  made  the  round,  carry,  as  soon  as  the 
morning  breaks,  the  little  pieces  of  wood  which  they  have  received 
to  the  tribune.  If  they  bring  less  than  the  number  of  guards,  the 
writing  on  each  of  them  is  examined ;  whatever  guard  has  not  been 
found  at  its  post,  and  the  centurion  and  men  who  formed  the 
guard,  are  called  to  confront  him  who  made  the  round,  who 
produces  his  witnesses,  without  which  he  alone  bears  all  the 
penalty.  Immediately  a  court-martial  is  called.  The  tribunes 
judge,  and  the  guilty  one  has  to  run  the  gauntlet. 

"  This  punishment  is  thus  inflicted :  the  tribune,  taking  a 
small  rod,  simply  touches  the  criminal ;  and  immediately  all  the 
legionaries  fall  upon  him  with  blows  from  sticks  and  stones  in 
such  a  way  that  he  frequently  loses  his  life  during  the  punish- 
ment. If  he  do  not  die,  he  remains  marked  with  infamy.  He  is 
not  allowed  to  return  to  his  native  land,  and  no  relation  or  friend 
of  his  would  dare  to  open  his  house  to  him.  So  severe  a  punish- 
ment causes  the  discipline  as  regards  the  night  watches  to  be 
always   exactly   observed.      The    same    punishment    is    inflicted    on 


INTERNAL  STATE  OF  ROME   DURING  SAMNITE  WAR.      521 

those  who  steal  in  the  camp,  who  give  false  witness,  or  have  been 
caught  three  times  in  the  same  fault.  There  are  also  marks  of  in- 
famy for  any  one  who  boasts  falsely  to  the  tribunes  of  an  exploit, 
who  abandons  his  post,  or  throws  away  his  arms  during  battle. 
So  that  from  the  fear  of  being  punished  or  dishonored,  the 
soldiers   brave   all    perils.^ 

"  Should  it  happen  that  whole  maniples  have  been  driven 
from  their  post,  the  tribune  assembles  the  legion  ;  the  guilty  are 
brought  forward ;  he  makes  them  draw  lots,  and  all  who  produce 
the  numbers  10,  20,  30,  etc.,  are  made  to  run  the  gauntlet.  The 
rest  are  condemned  to  receive  barley  in  place  of  wheat,  and  to 
camp  outside  the  rampart,  at  the  risk  of  being  carried  off  by  the 
enemy.  This  is  called  decimating.  When  soldiers,  on  the  con- 
trary, distinguish  themselves,  whether  m  single  combat  with  the 
permission  of  the  general,  or  in  a  skirmish  where  the  officer 
imposes  no  obligation  of  fighting,  the  consul  parades  the  legion, 
calls  out  the  soldiers,  and  having  first  bestowed  great  praises  on 
them,  makes  a  present  of  a  lance  to  him  who  has  wounded  the 
enemy,  of  a'  cup  or  a  breastplate  if  he  has  killed  and  despoiled 
him. 

"  After  the  capture  of  a  city,  those  who  first  scaled  the  wall 
receive  a  golden  crown.^  There  are  also  rewards  for  the  soldiers 
who  save  citizens  or  allies.  Those  who  have  been  delivered  them- 
selves, crown  their  liberator.  They  owe  them  during  their  whole 
life  filial  respect  and  all  the  duties  which  they  would  render  a 
father.  The  legionaries  who  have  received  these  rewards  have 
the  right,  on  their  return  from  the  campaign,  to  be  present  at 
games  and  fetes,  clothed  in  a  dress  only  worn  by  those  whose 
bravery  the  consuls  have  honored.  They  besides  hang  up,  in 
the  most  conspicuous  places  of  their  houses,  the  spoils  which  they 
have  taken  from  the  enemy,  as  monuments  of  their  courage. 

"  After  a  victory  or  the  capture  of  a  city  the  division  of 
the  booty  is  made  with  the  same  regularity.  Half  the  soldiers 
guard  the  camp  ;  the  others  disperse  for  pillage,  and   each   brings 

'  The  consul  Petilius  having  been  slain  in  176  by  the  Ligurians,  the  Senate  decided  that 
the  legion  which  had  not  been  able  to  defend  its  general  should  not  receive  the  pay  of  the 
year,  and  that  that  campaign  should  not  be  reckoned  to  any  one  quia  pro  saluli  imperatoris 
hostium  tells  se  nan  ohtulcrant.     (Val.  Max.  II.  vii.  1.5  ;  cf.  Livy,  xli.  18.) 

^  The  obsidional  crown  was  for  a  long  time  made  simply  of  grass. 


^ 


522  CONQUEST   OF  ITALY. 

to  his  legion  what  he  has  been  able  to  get.  This  booty  is  sold 
by  auction,  and  the  tribunes  divide  the  proceeds  equally  among 
all,  including  the  sick  and  those  who  are  absent  on  leave. 

"  The  pay  of  the  foot-soldier  is  two  obols  per  day.^  The 
centurion  has  double,  the  cavalry  treble,  or  a  drachma.  The  ration 
of  bread  for  the  infantry  was  two  thirds  of  an  Attic  medimnus  of 
corn  per  month,  that  of  the  horse  7  medimni  of  barley  and  2 
of  wheat.^  The  infantry  of  the  allies  had  the  same  rations  as  the 
Komans  ;  their  cavalry  1  medimnus,  and  a  third  of  wheat  and  5  of 
barley.  This  distribution  was  made  the  allies  without  charge ; 
but  as  regards  the  Romans,  a  certain  fixed  sum  was  deducted 
from  their  pay  for  the  victuals,  dress,  and  arms  which  were 
assigned   them. 

"  As  the  camp  was  always  arranged  as  has  been  explained, 
and  as  each  corps  holds  the  same  place  in  it,  all  that  was  needful 
was  that  the  army,  on  reaching  the  place  of  encampment,  should 
see  the  white  flag  waving  which  marks  the  spot  where  the 
consul's  tent  is  pitched,  in  order  that  all  the  maniples  should 
know  where  to  halt.  The  soldiers  take  their  places  a's  if  entering 
their  native  city,  each  going  straight  to  his  dwelling  without 
possibility  of  mistake.  Thus  the  Romans  have  no  need  to  search, 
as  the  Greeks  had,  for  a  place  '  fortified  naturally ; '  they 
could  camp  everywhere ;  and  everywhere,  when  the  enemy  wished 
to  try  a  night  surprise,  they  found  them  established  in  a  fortress, 
where  the  watch  was  well  kept."  ^ 

We  see  that  in  the  army  of  those  days  there  was  no 
question  respecting  the  distribution  of  the  soldiers  according  to 
the  order  of  classes.  The  legion  of  the  first  age  of  the  Republic 
was   constituted   aristocratically,   according    to   wealth.      After   the 

1  The  ohol  was  one  sixth  of  a  drachma ;  and  Polybiiis  regards  the  Greek  drachma  as  equal 
to  the  Koman  denarius,  which  continued  to  be  considered,  for  the  pay  of  troops,  as  equal  to 
10  ascs,  though,  from  218  B.C.  onward  (PI.  Nat.  Hist,  xxxiii.  13),  it  was  worth  16  in  com- 
merce. For  a  year  of  360  days,  the  pay  of  a  foot-soldier  was  therefore  120  denarii,  that  of 
the  centurion  and  horse-soldier  from  240  to  360  denarii.  The  denarius,  containing  about  this 
time  58  grains  of  fine  silver  (liussey,  Ancient  Weif/hls),  had  an  absolute  value  of  88  centimes 
(8^rZ.),  and  a  possible  value  much  greater.  M.  de  Witte  raises  the  intrinsic  value  of  the 
early  denarii,  struck  at  the  rate  of  72  to  the  lb.,  to  1.01  francs;  that  of  the  latter,  84  of 
which  went  to  the  lb.,  at  about  82^  centimes  (8}d.). 

'^  This  rate  is  somewhat  higher  than  that  adopted  for  the  French  army. 

'  Compare  with  this  description  that  which  Josephus  (Bell.  Jud.  iv.  5)  gives  more  than 
two  centuries  after  Polybius. 


INTERNAL   STATE   OF  ROME  DURING  SAMNITE  WAR.      523 

establishment  of  pay  in  400  b.  c,  and  probably  since  the  reforms 
made  by  Camillus,^  the  distinctions  set  up  or  regulated  by  King 
Servius  necessarily  disappeared,  and  equality  seemed  to  rule  in  the 
camp  as  well  as  in  the  Forum.  Age  and  strength  decided  the 
place  that  the  soldier  should  hold  in  the  ranks.  But  Rome  was 
too  tenacious  of  its  old  usages  to  forget  them  entirely.  The  rich, 
who  m  the  uifantry  have  complete  armor,  alone  furnish  all  the 
cavalry,  both  those  who  mount  themselves  at  their  own  expense  equo 
jprivato,  to  whom  the  state  gives  7  medimni  of  barley  a  month,  and 
those  who  receive  from  it  a  horse,  equus  j^uhlicus,  with  an  allowance 
for  its  support,  aes  equestre,  equivalent  to  the  rations  granted  to  the 
others  in  kind.  The  poor  are  only  received  into  the  velites,  —  a  sort 
of  forlorn  hope,  not  called  on  for  heavy  fighting,  —  and  the  prole- 
tariat are  enrolled  only  in  times  of  grave  peril.^  Their  service  is 
then  an  exception,  which  becomes  the  rule  from  Marius'  time, — 
that  is  to  say,  at  the  time  when  ambitious  men  believe  the  poorest  to 
be  the  best  auxiliaries.^  At  the  time  of  the  Punic  wars  the  army 
was  still  representative  of  its  country.  In  two  centuries  it  will  no 
longer  be  so. 

Let  us  note  also  that  no  people  of  antiquity  so  faithfully  ful- 
filled the  obligation  of  military  service.  One  may  assert  that  from 
the  battle  of  Lake  Regillus  to  that  of  Zama  the  Romans  were  an 
army  always  on  foot.  To  be  raised  to  a  civil  magistracy  one  must 
have  been  a  soldier ;  and  this  custom  continued  through  the  time  of 
the  Antoniues.  When,  in  the  third  century  of  our  era,  civil  func- 
tions were  separated  from  military,  what  remained  of  the  spirit  of 
old  Rome  disappeared,  and  the  reign  of  adventurers  began. 

IV.   Recapitulation. 

So,  in  the  heart  of  Italy,  in  the  midst  of  populations  subdued, 
disunited,  and  watched,  arose  a  people,  strong  from  union  and 
character,  which,  having  spent  nearly  two  centuries  in  build- 
ing up  its  constitution  and   army,  had,  in  less   than  eighty  years, 

1  The  state  gave  them  a  sword  and  buckler. 

Proktarius  publicitus  scutisque  Jeroque 

OrnatuT  ferro.  (Ennius,  ap.  Aul.  Gell.  xvi.  10.) 

^  .  .  .  et  homini  potentiam  quaerenti  egentissimtts  quisque  opportunissimus.  (Sallust,  ap.  Aul. 
GeU.,  ihid.) 


524  .  CONQUEST   OF   ITALY. 

subdued  and  organized  the  whole  peninsula,  from  the  Rubicon  to 
the  Straits  of  Messina.  In  presence  of  these  splendid  results  of 
human  activity  and  prudence,  remembering  what  Rome  had  once 
been,  we  shall  say  with  Bossuet :  "  Of  all  the  peoples  of  the  world 
the  Roman  people  has  been  the  proudest  and  hardiest,  the  most  regu- 
lar in  its  counsels,  the  most  constant  in  its  principles,  the  most  pru- 
dent, the  most  laborious,  —  finally,  the  most  patient.  From  all  this 
has  been  formed  the  best  military  power  and  the  most  prudent,  firm, 
and  logical  political  system  which  has  ever  existed." 

These  are  very  glorious  destinies  and  a  very  great  history. 
Yet  if  in  Rome  we  have  found  many  great  citizens,  we  cannot  say 
that  we  have,  thus  far,  met  with  one  really  great  man.  This  empire 
was,  as  Bossuet  shows,  in  spite  of  himself,  the  work  of  time,  of  his- 
torical circumstances,  and  of  the  collective  wisdom  of  the  Senate 
and  people.  The  union  existing  between  those  who  deliberated  in 
the  curia  and  those  who  voted  in  the  comitia,  the  spirit  of  sacrifice 
and  the  spirit  of  discipline,  that  is  to  say,  the  great  civic  virtues, 
—  these  gave  to  Rome  the  victory  over  the  Samnites  and  Italy, 
these  gave  her  the  victory  over  Carthage  and  the  world.  This 
history  is  then  the  triumph  of  good  sense  applied  with  persever- 
ance to  public  affairs  ;  it  is  also  the  most  brilliant  protest  against 
the  old  doctrine  of  the  government  of  the  world  by  the  gods,  and 
against  the  new  theory  which  attributes  all  human  progress  to 
great  men.  They  do  much,  doubtless,  and  in  the  works  of  art 
and  thought  they  do  all ;  but  in  politics  there  are  no  other  great 
men  than  those  who  are  the  personification  of  the  wants  of  their 
time,  and  who  direct  the  social  forces  in  the  direction  these  forces 
had  already  taken.  We  shall  one  day  see  Rome,  incapable  of  guiding 
her  destinies,  abandon  herself  into  the  hands  of  her  military  chiefs ; 
but,  for  a  century  longer,  her  institutions  and  her  old  spirit  preserved 
her  from  these  dangerous  leaders. 

o 

*  Coin  of  Lollius  Palikanus,  the  reverse  of  which  represents  the  rostra.     (See  p.  422.) 


HEAD   OF    LIBERTY.' 


FOURTH    PERIOD. 

THE  PUNIC   WARS   (264-201). 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

CARTHAGE. 

I.   Commercial  Empire  of  the  Punic  Race. 

WHILE  Rome  was  advancing  slowly  by  war  from  the  heart  of 
Latiuin  to  the  Straits  of  Messina,  on  the  other  coast  of 
tlie  Mediterranean,  facing  Italy,  less  than  30  leagues  from  Sicily, 
the  Carthagmian  power  was  growing  by  means  of  industry  and 
commerce. 

To-day,  on  a  desert  strand,  4  leagues  from  Tunis,  are  to  be 
seen  fragments  of  columns,  the  ruins  of  a  Roman  aqueduct,  some 
reservoirs  half  filled  up,  and  in  the  sea  the  remains  of  piers  which 
the  waves  have  destroyed.     This  is  all  that  remains  of  Carthage,^ 

'  The  most  considerable  ruins  are  those  of  the  aqueduct  whioh  crossed  the  isthmus  and 
supplied  the  city.  At  its  extremity  are  some  deep  parallel  cisterns,  which  are  sunk  under  the 
ground.  At  a  little  distance  from  the  cisterns,  and  commanding  the  sea  by  a  height  of  205  feet, 
a  hill  rises,  whore  King  Louis  Philippe  has  had  a  small  chapel  built  in  honor  of  Saint  Louis. 
Tliis  is,  without  doubt,  tlie  site  of  Byrsa,  the  citadel  of  Carthage.  M.  Beulc  (Fouilles  de 
Carthayc)  thought  he  found  the  foimdations  of  the  walls  on  tlie  declivity  of  the  liill ;  but  the 
results  of  his  excavations  have  on  this  j)oint  been  strongly  combated  by  Mr.  Davis  (^Carthage 
and  her  Remains).  The  temple  of  the  great  goddess  of  Carthage,  Tanit,  whom  the  Romans 
.successively  called  Urania,  Juno,  and  the  Heavenly  Virgin,  occupied,  according  to  the  accounts 
of  ancient  authors,  another  hill  almost  as  extensive  as  Byrsa,  from  which  it  was  se]iarated  onlv 
by  a  low  street.  There  has  been  found  on  the  whole  l)rcadth  of  the  space  comprised  lietwcen 
tlie  chapel  of  St.  Louis  and  the  sea,  but  princ-i])ally  in  the  vicinity  of  tlie  chapel,  a  (piantity 
of  ex-votos  bearing  dedications  in  the  Phoenician  language  to  Tanit  and  Baal-IIammou,  wliicli 
must  come  from  the  temple  of  this  goddess. 

"  The  situation  of  the  ports  leaves  room  for  less  doubt ;  they  were  to  the  south  of  Carthage, 


526-  THE   PTJNIC   WAKS   FROM  264  TO  201. 

,.  .  etiam  periere  ruinae.  And  yet  twice,  Carthage  lived  gloriously, 
first  as  a  Punic  city,  and  then  as  a  Roman.  Her  towers  rose 
to  4  stories ;  her  triple  walls  reached  to  30  cubits ;  and  such 
was  the  strength  of  her  walls,  that  the  rooms  made  in  their 
masonry  could  shelter  three  hundred  elephants  of  war,  four 
thousand  horses,  and  twenty-four  thousand  soldiers  with  their 
provisions,  equipment,  and  arms.^  Gold  plates  covered  her  temple 
of  the  Sun,  whose  statue  of  pure  gold  weighed,  it  is  said,  1,000 
talents ;  and  in  her  squares,  which  re-echoed  with  twenty  lan- 
guages, were  to  be  met  the  half-naked  Numidian  and  Moor,  the 
Iberian  dressed  in  white,  the  Gaul  in  his  brilliant  sagum,  the 
stout  Ligurian,  the  active  Balearic,  Greeks  come  to  seek  their 
fortune  in  the  great  city,  Nasamones  and  Lotus-eaters  called 
from  the  region  of  the  Syrtes,  —  in  short,  all  those  who  came 
to  Carthage  to  sell  their  courage,  pay  their  tribute,  or  to  bring 
to  this  commercial  centre  of  all  lands,  civilized  and  barbarous, 
the  products  of  three  continents.  In  its  last  days,  after  the 
struggle  of  a  century,  Carthage  still  contained  seven  hundred 
thousand    people.^ 

and  opened  not  upon  the  Lake  of  Tunis,  but  upon  the  sea,  in  front  of  the  little  port  Goletta. 
There  were  two,  one  behind  the  other ;  but  one  opening  gave  entrance  to  both.  The  fij-st,  which 
communicated  directly  with  the  sea,  was  the  commercial  port ;  the  other,  the  naval  port,  was 
smaller  and  circular  ;  an  island  occupied  its  centre.  These  ports  had  been  cut  out  of  the  rock, 
as  were  a  great  many  of  the  I'lioenician  harbors ;  and  they  were  thus  defended  on  their  sides  by 
a  natural  wall ;  towards  the  south  they  were  closed  by  an  iron  chain. 

"  The  Phoenicians  carried  their  religion  with  them.  Wherever  they  went  they  raised 
chapels,  or  consecrated  in  the  temples  of  foreign  divinities  ex-votos  to  their  national  divinities. 
So  in  almost  all  their  commercial  stations  are  to  be  found  traces  of  the  worship  of  Melkart  and 
Astarte,  or  Hercules  and  Venus,  as  the  Greeks  and  Komans  have  always  called  their  gods. 
The  Partus  Hercuiis,  Po7-lu.i  Ilcrcidts  Monoeci  (Monaco),  and  the  Partus  Veneris  (Port  Vendres) 
have  this  origin. 

"  The  Carthaginian  inscriptions  make  known  to  us,  besides  priests  properly  so  called,  the 
existence  of  hierodules  attached  to  the  service  of  the  different  temples  who  must  have  formed 
regular  confraternities.  The  temple  was  their  family ;  they  had  no  ancestors :  thus  more  than 
once  is  seen  on  the  stckie  the  name  of  the  city  of  t^arthage  in  the  place  of  the  son  and  of  the 
ancestor  of  him  who  made  the  offering.  The  inscriptions  permit  us  also  to  catch  glimpses  of  a 
religious  organization  outside  the  sacerdotal  body;  on  two  or  three  large  inscriptions  we  see 
represented  the  '  ten  men  placed  over  the  sacred  things.'  This  must  have  been  a  sort  of 
rehgious  magistracy  answering  to  the  centumviri  or  the  sufEetes.  Finally,  it  tells  us  the  names 
of  a  certain  number  of  suffetes,  —  Hannibal,  Mago,  Bomilcar ;  but  their  names  were  very 
widespread,  and  the  total  absence  of  dates  jn-events  us  from  drawing  any  result  relative  to  the 
history  of  Carthage."     (Note  conununicated  by  1\I.  Berger.) 

1  The  triple  enclosure  of  which  Appian  speaks  was  perhaps  only  the  external  wall,  then 
the  two  walls  of  casemates  separated  from  the  first  by  a  covered  road. 

^  Its   Punic  name  was  Kiriath-IIadeshat,  or  the  New   City,  which  was  probably  pro- 


CARTHAGE. 


527 


This  city  was,  however,  only  a  colony  of  another  city,  —  Tyre, 
a  city  without  territory,  like  Venice  or  Amsterdam,  a  vessel  at 
anchor  on  the  sea,  and  thence  witnessing  conquerors  and  revolu- 
tions.     Tyre    and    Sidon    were    tlie    principal    cities    of    a    c(nintry 


PLAN    OK    CARTHAGE, 


which,  confined  between  Lebanon  and  the  sea,  had  scarcely  an  area 
of   240  square  miles.     But  from  the  smallest  countries  have    come 


nounced  Kart-Hadshat,  and  tliis  explains  the  Greek  name  Kapxi^oiv,  and  the  Roman  name 
CarlJia(/o. 

1  There  are  many  plans  of  Carthage.  We  have  collected  into  ours  the  residts  of  the  most 
recent  works ;  but  many  of  the  details  in  the  pubhshed  plans,  as  also  in  our  own,  are  only 
approximations. 


528 


THE   PUNIC   WAES   FEOM   264   TO   201. 


the   grandest   things :    from    Attica,  the    civilization    of   the  world ; 
from    Palestine,    the   religion    of   Christ. 

The  Greeks  have  been  the  artists,  the  thinkers,  and  the  poets 
of  the  ancient  world ;  the  Phoenicians  were  only  the  traders,^  but 
with  so  much  courage,  perseverance,  and  skill,  that  they  have 
taken,  in  the  history  of  the  human  race,  a  place  among  its 
civilizing   peoples.     In    their    distant    expeditions  these    gold-seekers 


AQUEDUCTS   OF    CARTHAGE.'^ 

had  found  what  they  did  not  seek,  —  the  arts  and  science  of  Egypt 
and  of  Assyria,  which  they  carried  away  in  their  caravans  and  on 
their  ships.  To  the  Greeks  they  transmitted  the  hieratic  writing 
of  the  Pharaohs,  the  metric  system  of  the  Babylonians,  and  many 
religious    doctrines    and    artistic    methods,    which   were    felicitously 


1  Respecting  the  commerce  of  the  Phoenicians,  see  the  magnificent  ode  by  Ezekiel  (chap, 
xxvii.)  :  "  O  Tyre !  tliou  hast  said,  I  am  of  perfect  beauty,"  etc. 

2  These  aqueducts  belongcil  to  Roman  Carthage.      Drawing  taken  from  the  work  by 
Davis,  Carlhar/e  and  her  Remains;  see  p.  529,  n.  2. 


CAHTHAGE. 


529 


modified  by  the  bright  and  charming  genius  of  the  race  beloved  by- 
Minerva.^     To  the  Africans  and  Spaniards  they  taught  the  agricul- 


CISTERXS    OF    CARTHAGE.-' 


ture  of  Syria  and  of  the  Nile  Valley ;  everywhere  they  brought  the 
products  of  an  advanced  industry,  which  awakened  the  nascent 
industry  of  barbarous  countries. 

1  [The  Phoenician  infiuenoes  on  Greek  and  Eoman  culture  are  here  well  stated,  and  haTe 
been  of  late  proved  far  greater  than  was  supposed  by  the  earlier  students  of  Greece  and  Rome. 
The  Greek  ij.va  retains  its  Babylonian  name ;  the  Greek  alphabet  has  now  been  proved  (by  De 
Rouge)  to  have  come  from  Egypt  through  the  Phoenicians,  who  re-named  the  letters ;  the 
tombs  of  Palestrina,  etc.,  show  the  spread  of  Phoenician  workmanship  over  Italy.  How  much 
Greek  and  even  Roman  religion  owed  them  is  uncertain,  but  the  debt  was  certainly 
large.  —  Ei:l.~\ 

^  These  cisterns,  built  on  the  east  of  the  citadel,  appear  to  have  been  140  feet  long, 
50  wide,  and  30  high;  the  walls  were  5  feet  thick.  The  Carthaginian  cisterns  became  in- 
sufficient for  Roman  Carthage.  Hadrian  sought  for  a  supply  at  Zaghwan  and  Djonghar, 
about  68  miles  distant,  and  constructed  a  gigantic  acpeduct  across  mountains  and  valleys.  It 
had  a  mean  height  of  about  113  feet,  and  a  separation  of  only  9  feet  between  the  supports. 
There  exists  above  the  Bardo.  at  about  one  hour's  distance,  a  part  of  the  arches  to  an  extent  of 
about  SOO  yards.  The  canal,  which  the  .aqueduct  carried,  was  vaulted,  and  high  enough  for  an 
average  man  to  walk  along  without  stooping. 

VOL.    I.  3i 


630- 


THE   PUNIC   WARS  FEOM  264  TO  201. 


COIN   OF    SIDON.' 


COIN    OF    SARDINIA. - 


As  there  was  no  land  for  the  Phoenicians  on  their  barren  strand, 
they  had  taken  the  sea  for  their  domain ;  they  covered  it  with  their 
fleets,  and  planted  colonies  on  all  its  coasts,  not    after   the  fa.shion 

of  Rome,  as  fortresses  intended  to 
secure  empire .  and  the  unity  of 
the  conquering  people,  but  after 
the  Greek  manner,  as  an  overflow 
of  population  left  to  its  own  re- 
sources, and  so  much  the  better 
pursuing  its  own  fortune.  There 
was  a  time  when  the  Mediterranean  might  be  styled  the  Phoenician 
Sea.       The    legend,    smnming   up,    as    it    always   does,    the   ancient 

history  of  a  people  in  that  of  a 
mythic  hero,  represented  the  succes- 
sive stages  of  progress  of  Phoenician 
colonization  by  the  symbolic  voyage 
of  the  god  Melkart.  The  Tyrian 
Heracles,  leading  a  powerful  army, 
had  crossed  the  north  of  Africa, 
Spain,  Gaul,  Italy,  and  Sicily,  subduing  nations,  founding  cities, 
and    teaching   to    the    conquered   the  arts  of   peace.     Sardinia  still 

possesses  the  strange 
monuments  raised  by 
the  Phoenician  colonists, 
the    Nuracjhe? 

In  the  Aegean  Sea 
the  Phoenicians  retired 
before  the  warlike  races 
of  Hellas ;  and  leaving 
to  them  the  north  of 
the  Mediterranean,  they 
kept  only  Africa  and 
Spain.      From   Tyre   to   Cadiz,   for   1,000   leagues,   the   Phoenician 

1  Head  crowned  with  towers,  personification  of  the  city-  On  the  reverse,  tlie  name 
Sidonians,  an  eagle  with  a  palm  and  its  foot  on  a  ship's  prow  ;  iu  the  field  a  monogram  and 
the  diite  E,  year  5  of  the  Sidonian  era,  or  106  B.  c. 

-  SARD.  PATEU.  Head  of  the  god  Sardus ;  on  the  reverse,  the  head  and  name  of  Atius 
Balbus,  praetor  in  Sardinia,  and  grandfather  of  Augustus.     Roman  bronze  coin. 

'  [That  these  Nurar/he  were  built  by  Phoenicians  is  more  than  doubtful ;  they  probably  date 
from  earlier,  or  at  least  ruder  races.  —  Ed.'] 


NURAGHE   OF    SORI. 


CARTHAGE.  531 

ships  could  follow  a  coast  fringed  by  their  trading-posts.  But  the 
Mediterranean  was  too  narrow  for  these  thousands  of  merchants  who 
constituted  themselves  the  purveyors  of  nations.  Their  caravans  or 
their  ships  visited  the  most  remote  countries  of  the  east  and  south. 
By  the  Red  Sea  and  Indian  Ocean  they 
went  as  far  as  India,  Ceylon,  and  estab- 
lished themselves  in  the  Persian  Gulf;  by 
Persia  and  Bactria  they  penetrated  to  the  N^^^>^ 
frontiers   of   Chuia.     The    ivory  and  ebony  '^°™ 

of  Ethiopia,  the  gold  dust  of  Central  Africa  and  Asia,  the  perfumes 
of  Yemen,  the  cinnamon  and  spices  of  Ceylon,  the  precious  stones 
and  rich  tissues  of  India,  the  pearls  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  the 
metals,  slaves,  and  wools  of  Asia  Minor,  copper  from  Italy,  silver 
from  Spain,^  tin  from  England,  amber  from  the  Baltic,  lay  in  heaps 
in  the  markets  of  Tyre.  But  let  us  not  look  into  the  interior  of 
these  maritime  cities,  where,  with  so  much  riches,  there  was 
combined  so  much  corruption.  Under  the  influence  of  a  hot 
clunate  and  of  a  religion  which  reduced  the  problem  of  the 
universe  to  that  of  fecundity,  their  solemnities  were  the  lascivious 
feasts  of  Astarte,  or  the  shrieks  with  which  their  temples  re- 
sounded when  Moloch,  "  horrid  king,"  ^  required  the  sacrifice  of  the 
noblest  children.* 

Carthage  was  only  a  link  of  this  immense  chain  which  the  Phoe- 
nicians had  attached  to  all  the  continents,  to  all  the  islands,  and 
with  which  they  seemed  to  desire  to  bind  the  world.  But  there 
are  cities  which  are  called  by  their  situation  to  a  high  for- 
tune. Placed  at  that  point  of  Africa  which  stretches  out  towards 
Sicily,  as  if  to  close  the  Maltese  Channel,  and  commands  the  pass- 
age between  the  two  great  basins  of    the  Mediterranean,  Carthage 

1  Head  of  Hercules  —  Jlelkart ;  on  the  reverse,  a  fish  and  a  Punic  inscription,  which 
reads:  "  MebaaU-Agadir,"  a '•  citizen  of  Agadir."     Silver  money.     (Note  by  M.  de  Saulcy.) 

'  Silver  being  rare  in  ancient  times,  the  ratio  of  gold  to  silver  was  at  Rome  as  1  to  10 ; 
anciently  in  Asia  it  was  perhaps  1  to  7  or  8  ;  with  us  it  is  legally  1  to  15^  ;  this  high  price  of 
silver  was  without  doubt  one  of  the  causes  of  the  wealth  of  the  Phoenicians,  who  drew  much 
silver  from  S])ain.  Tyre  and  Sidon  had  flourishing  industries  also,  —  purple  stuffs,  glass  ware, 
textile  fabrics,  toys,  salt  provisions,  metal  work,  etc. 

s  "  Moloch,  horrid  king,  hesmeared  with  blood 
Of  human  sacrifice  and  parents'  tears." 

Milton:  Paradise  Lost,  ii. 

*  [The  most  brilliant  picture  of  Carthaginian  splendor  will  be  found  in  Flaubert's  novel 
Salanunbo,  of  which  the  scene  is  laid  between  the  First  and  Second  Punic  Wars.  —  Ed. J 


532 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 


became  the  Tyre  of  tlie  West,  and  in  colossal  proportions,  because 
Mount  Atlas,  with  its  intractable  mountaineers,  was  not  like 
Lebanon    to     Tyre,     close     to     its     walls,    barring    the     way     and 

limiting  its  space ; 
because  it  was  not 
encircled,  like 
Palmyra,  by  the 
desert  and  its 
nomads ;  because, 
in  short,  it  was 
able,  resting  on 
large  and  fertile 
provinces,^  to  ex- 
tend over  the  vast  continent  lying  behind  it,  without  being 
stopped  by  powerful  states.  The  Greeks  of  Gyrene  were  kept 
in  check,  the    interior   of   Africa    crossed    to    the    Nile    and    Niger, 

Senegal^  discovered,  Spain  and 
Gaul  explored,  the  Canaries 
discovered,  America  perhaps 
surmised  and  announced  to 
VfCifn' TT'^^iSi,  ';y  Christopher  Columbus  by  that 
statue  on  the  Isle  of  Madeira 
which,     with     extended     arm, 


COIN  OF  CAUTHAGK.^ 


COIN  OF  CARTHAGE 


pointed    to    the    West.      This 
is  what  the  colony  did  which  was  placed  by  Tyre  at  Cape  Bon. 

^  Head  of  the  nymph  Arethusa;  on  the  reverse,  Pegasus.  The  inscription,  BARAT, 
signifies  the  Wells,  and  perhaps  more  exactly  Bi  ARAT,  "  at  Arat,"  a  Punic  name  of  Syracuse, 
which  possessed  the  famous  fountain  of  Arethusa.  Large  silver  piece,  certainly  struck  in 
Sicily,  and  probably  at  Syracuse.     (Note  of  M.  de  Saulcy.) 

2  The  Zeugitana  and  the  Byzacene  districts,  the  extreme  fertility  of  which  Polybius  (xii.  3), 
Diodorus  (xx.  8),  and  Scylax  praise,  and  whose  soil  is  even  now  of  inconceivable  fertility. 
Ninety-seven  ears  have  been  counted  on  a  single  root  of  barley,  and  the  natives  have  assured 
Sir  G.  Temple  (Excurs.  in  the  Medit.  ii.  108)  that  there  have  often  been  as  many  as  300.  At 
the  Algerian  Exlubition  of  1876  some  clusters  of  barley  grown  in  the  ditches  of  Touggourt, 
and  springing  from  a  single  grain,  bore  each  78,  84,  and  even  118  ears. 

2  Ilanno,  charged  with  the  examination  of  the  west  coasts  of  Africa,  came  to  a  stop 
through  want  of  provisions  between  the  7th  and  8th  degree  of  N.  lat.,  in  the  Gulf  of  Sherboro, 
which  he  called  the  Horn  of  the  South,  Norov  Kepas.  He  settled  colonists,  men  and  women,  on 
divers  points  of  the  coast,  from  10°  N.  lat.  to  the  Pillars  of  Hercules. 

*  Head  of  Arethusa.  On  the  reverse,  a  free  horse,  with  his  back  against  a  palm-tree, — 
a  symbol  essentially  Carthaginian.  A  fraction  of  the  former  piece.  The  inscription  has  the 
same  meaning,  which  assigns  the  same  Sicilian  origin  to  this  piece.  An  electrum  coin.  (Note 
of  M.  de  Saulcy.) 


CAKTHAGE. 


533 


There  was  a  moinent  when  this  commercial  empire  founded 
by  the  Punic  race,  with  its  two  great  capitals,  Tyre  and  Carthage, 
extended,  as  did  a  thousand  years  later  that  of  their  Arab 
brothers,  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  as  far  as  the  Indian.  But  tliis 
rule  had  two  implacable  enemies,  —  in 
the  east  the  Greeks,  in  the  west  the 
Romans.  With  Xerxes  the  Phoenician 
shi})s  came  as  far  as  Salamis ;  witli 
Alexander  tlie  Greeks  appeared  under 
the  walls  of  Tyre,  which  they  over- 
turned. When,  however,  they  founded  Antioch  and  Alexandria, 
Phoenicia,  straitened  between  these  two  cities,  saw  the  commerce 
of  the  world  depart.  What  Alexander  had  done  to  Tyre, 
Agathocles  and  Pyrrhus  attempted  against  Carthage. 
But  Greece  looks  towards  the  east ;  here  she  had 
gained  her  brilliant  victory ;  Pyrrhus  miscarried  in  ^^^^  ^^^^  ^ 
the  west  against  the  Phoenician  coloiiists ;  it  re- 
quired a  stronger  hand  to  snatch  Sicily  from  the  Carthaginians. 


COIN    OK    CAKTHAGE. 


II.   Caetiiaginiaks  and  Liby-Piioenicians  ;  Commercial  Policy 

OF  Carthage. 


Like  Rome,  Carthage  had  the  most  obscure  beginnings.  She 
took  four  centuries  to  found  her  empire.  Not  all  the  Numidians 
were,  as  their  Greek  name  would  seem 
to  indicate,  nomads.  Many  of  the 
Libyans  were  devoted  to  agriculture ; 
many  also  wandered  about,  like  the 
present  Algerians,  with  their  flocks. 
She   conquered   the  former  and  gained  '"'^  °^  libya. 

or   restrained   the  latter   by  the  alliances    which    she   caused   their 


1  On  the  ri<;ht,  a  palm.     On  the  reverse,  the  head  of  a  horse.     Coin  of  recent  period. 

^  Hercules-Melkart,  having  the  head  covered  with  a  lion's  skin.  On  the  reverse,  a  lion 
walking.  Below  the  name  of  the  Libyans.  Above,  the  Punic  letter  corresponding  to  M,  the 
abbreviation  of  the  word  MAKHNAT,  whicli  signifies  rain/i.  The  piece  must  be,  then,  a  moneta 
castrensis  special  to  the  Libyans.     (Note  of  M.  de  Saujcy.) 


534 


THE   PUNIC   WARS  FROM  264  TO  201. 


chiefs  to  contract  with  the  daughters  of  her  richest  citizens.^  She 
encouraged  the  culture  of  the  soil,  and  her  colonists,  mixing  with 
the    natives,    formed    in    time    one    people    with    them,    the    Liby- 


PORTS  OF  CARTHAGE  -  (TAKEN  FROM  DAVIS). 


Phoenicians.^      But    the    Roman    colonies,    always    armed,    encircled 
their  metropolis  with  an  impenetrable  girdle.       The  establishments 

^  See  in  Livy  the  history  of  Soplionisba,  and  in  Polybius  that  of  Naravas  (i.  78  seq.). 
Oesalces,  King  of  the  Massylians,  married  also  a  niece  of  Hannibal.     (Livy,  xxix.  29.) 

-  The  harbors  of  Carthage  were  situate  to  the  southeast  of  Saint  Louis'  chapel,  at  the 
point  where  the  Bey's  country-house  stands.  The  two  little  lakes  now  to  be  seen  there  are 
not  remains  of  the  ports,  but  an  attempt  at  restoration,  made  some  years  ago  by  the  son  of 
the  jirime  minister.     (De  Sainte-Marie,  La  Tunisse  Chre'l.) 

'  Arist.,  Pol.  vi.  3.  Let  us  note  that  between  the  Carthaginians  and  the  Africans  there 
was  a  difference  of  origin,  language,  and  manners  which  did  not  exist,  at  least  to  the  same 
degree,  between  Rome  and  the  Italians,  even  if  the  famous  narrative  of  Procopius  (De  B. 
V.  ii.  20)  should  be  admitted  respecting  tlie  presence  in  Africa  of  Canaanites, —  that  is  to  say,  of 
men  of  Phoenician  language  and  rai>e  before  the  arrival  of  colonists  from  Sidon  and  Tyre.  In 
Italy  the  fusion  was  possible  ;  it  was  so  in  Africa  only  by  that  intermediary  race  the  Liby- 
Phoenicians,  which  was  slow  in  forming,  and  which  had  not  the  same  interests  as  Carthage. 
Just  as  the  English  are  foreigners  in  India,  so  the  genuine  Carthaginians  always  remained  for 
Africa.     In  Livy  the  ambassadors  of  Masinissa  reproach  them  with  it. 


CAKTHAGE.  535 

of  Carthage,  all  unwalled,  that  a  revolt  might  be  impossible,  were 
only,  to  say  the  truth,  large  agricultural  villages,  charged  with 
the  feeding  of  the  immense  population  of  the  capital  and  pro- 
visioning its  thousand  ships  and  its  armies.  Thus  is  it  that  the 
Carthaginian  cities  appear  to  us,  —  open  to  all  attacks,  and  as  in- 
capal)le  of  defending  themselves  against  Carthage  as  against  her 
enemies.  Spoletum,  Casilinum,  Nola,  and  the  impregnable  cities  of 
Central  Italy  saved  Rome  by  their  resistance  to  1  launiljal ;  two  hun- 
dred cities  yielded  to  Agathocles  as  soon  as  he  had  set  foot  ua  Africa. 

The  Senate  had  favored  the  intermarriage  of  its  colonists  with 
the  Libyans  (Berbers).  But  the  people  of  tliis  mixed  race  were 
regarded  as  an  inferior  class,  ex- 
eluded  from  honors  and  from  office,^ 
watched,  treated  as  a  hostile  race, 
and  thus  urged  on  to  revolt.  The 
history  of  Mutines  and  of  the  war 
of  the  mercenaries  shows  the  fault 

AEGYPTO-ROMAX   COIN    OF    MALTA. - 

of   Carthage  and  its  punishment ; 

at  Rome,  Mutines   might   have   become  a  consul ;    at   Carthage,  he 

was  insulted,  proscribed,  and  forced  into  treason  to  save  his  head. 

Carthage  had  been  preceded  or  followed  on  this  coast  by 
other  Phoenician  colonies,  —  Utica,  Hippo,  Hadrumentum,  the  two 
Leptis,  all  of  which  she  compelled  to  recognize  her  supremacy, 
except  Utica,  which  knew  how  to  keep  a  real  independence.^  No 
longer  having  to  fear  their  rivalry,  having  subjected  the  Numidian 
borderers,  keeping  the  rest  divided  by  policy  or  gold,  she  had  full 
liberty  to  extend  her  maritime  empire.  Born  of  a  merchant  city, 
Carthage  loved  nothing  but  commerce,  and  made  war  simply  to 
open  up  thoroughfares,  to  make  sure  of  trading  with  new  countries, 
or  to  destroy  rival  powers.  The  Greeks  and  the  Phoenicians 
divided    between     them    one    of     the    two    great    basins    of     the 


1  It  was  the  Liby-Phoenieians  who  composed,  with  the  populace  of  the  capital,  the  colonies 
sent  out  in  such  number.  (Arist.,  Pol.  vi.  3.)  [Momrasen  thinks  the  designation  was  really 
political,  like  the  Latin  name.  —  Ed."] 

^  ME.\rrAIQN.  Head  of  Iris,  with  her  usual  head-dress,  —  three  plumes  and  two  uraens 
(the  serpent,  mark  of  royalty)  ;  before  her,  the  representation  of  the  goddess  Tanit.  On  the 
reverse,  Osiris  (?)  carrying  the  two  symbols  of  regularity,  —  the  claw,  which  holds,  and  the 
Jiabellum,  which  moves  or  fans.     Bronze  coin  of  Malta. 

^  Polyb.,  iii.  24.     Utica  in  Phoenician  means  the  old  town. 


536 


THE  PUNIC  WARS  FROM  264  TO  201. 


POENO-ROMAN    COIN   OF    GAULOS.^ 


Mediterranean :    Carthage  sought    to    possess   the    other.      Sardinia, 
Corsica,   and  the  Balearic   Ishmds  commanded  its  navigation ;    she 

tooli  possession  of  them.  Sicily  was 
better  defended  by  the  Greeks  of 
Syracuse ;  she  kept  them  in  check 
by  taking  up  her  position  at  Malta, 
where  she  kept  two  thousand  men 
as  garrison,  at  Gaulos,  at  Cossura, 
which  touch  it,  at  the  Aegates  and  the  Lipari  Islands,  which 
dominate  its  coast  on  the  west  and  north,  in  Sicily  itself,  two 
thirds  of  which  she  finally  occupied.  Wherever  she  ruled  as 
sovereign,  hard  laws  —  as  merchants  have  always  prescribed,  even 
in  our  days,  to  defend  their  monopolies  —  oppi-essed  the  conquered. 
Whilst  around  her  own  walls  she  condemned  the  Libyans  to  work 
for  her   profit,   it  was  forbidden,   if   we   may    believe    the    Greeks, 

the  inhabitants  of  Sardinia,  under 
pain  of  death,  to  cultivate  the  soil.^ 
In  Africa,  whose  stormy  coast  she 
had  fringed  with  her  numerous  fac- 
tories ;  in  Spain,  where  ancient 
Phoenician  colonies  served  as  com- 
mercial stations,  —  she  profited  by 
the  ignorance  of  the  barbarians  to  make  good  bargains  with  them. 
She  lost  neither  her  time  nor  strength  in  conquering  or  civilizing 
them ;  she  preferred  to  create  wants  for  them,  and  to  impose  on 
them  burdensome  exchanges,  taking,  for  some  slight  tissues  made 
at  Malta,  the  gold  dust  of  the  African  or  silver  of  the  Spaniard; 
always  gaining  on  everything,   and  with  all  men. 


POENO-ROMAN    COIN    OF    COSSURA.^ 


'  Head  of  Melkart.  Before  it,  a  caduceus,  symbol  of  commerce.  On  tlie  reverse,  an 
object,  the  meaning  of  which  is  lost,  and  in  a  Roman  crown  of  laurel  the  words  "  the  ships." 
Bronze  money  used  for  jjaying  sailors. 

-  Auct.  de  Mirah.  li)4.  This  is  a  mistake  ;  Sardinia  furnislied  much  corn  to  the  fleets  and 
armies  of  Carthage  (Died.,  -xiv.  G3,  77).  But  the  Carthaginians  spread  this  report  to  keep  off 
foreign  ships  from  the  island,  whicli  would  have  supported  Carthage  if  a  revolt  or  war  deprived 
them  of  the  corn  of  Africa.  In  the  first  treaty  with  Rome,  the  Romans  were  allowed  to  trade 
in  Sardinia  ;  in  the  second,  tliis  permission  was  witlidrawn.     (Polyb.,  iii.  22-24.) 

^  Head  of  a  veiled  woman,  image  of  tlie  tutelary  deity  of  the  island,  crowned  by  a  Victory. 
Reverse,  COSSURA,  and  the  representation  of  Tanit  in  a  crown  of  laurel  (see  p.  542,  n.  2). 
Bronze  coin  of  Cossura.  These  three  coins  show  the  two  islands  submitting  to  the  triple 
influence  of  Phoenicia,  Egypt,  and  Rome  ;  and  as  two  at  least  are  of  the  Roman  period,  they 
prove  also  the  persistence  of  the  Punic  nationality. 


o 

►J     • 

Ph 

ta 

H 

a 

H 

fc. 

O 


CAHTHAGE.  537 

The  Etruscans,  Massaliots,  Sjrracuse,  Agrigentum,  and  the 
Greek  cities  of  Italy  created  for  her  a  severe  competition.  Against 
some  she  excited  the  hate  and  ambition  of  Rome  (by  the  treaties 
of  509,  348,  and  270  b.  c.)  ;  against  others  she  perhaps  armed  the 
Gauls  and  Ligurians ;  or  else  she  mysteriously  hid  the  route  fol- 
lowed by  her  ships.  Every  foreign  vessel  caught  ia  the  waters  of 
Sardinia  or  near  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  was  pillaged  and  the 
crew  thrown  into  the  sea.^  After  the  Punic  wars,  this  strange  right 
of  nations,  as  Montesquieu  calls  it,  was  modified.  A  Carthaginian 
vessel,  seeing  itself  followed  into  the  Atlantic  by  a  Roman  galley, 
ran  itself  aground  rather  than  show  the  route  to  the  Cassiterides 
(the  Scilly  Islands).^  The  love  of  gain  rose  almost  to  heroism. 
What  is  strange,  the  greatest  commercial  power  of  antiquity  seems 
to  have  remained  a  long  time  without  itself  coining  its  gold  and 
silver  money ;  at  least,  the  silver  and  gold  coins  which  we  possess 
of  Punic  Carthage  all  come  from  the  mints  which  it  had  in  Sicily, 
and  where  Greek  artists  worked  for  it.  Syracuse  even  made  them 
for  it,  as  appears  from  the  beauty  of  the  type  and  image  of  the 
nymph  Arethusa.  These  moneys  do  not  even  belong  to  the  standard 
of  weight  after  which  the  true  Punic  coins  were  made.^  Carthage, 
however,  had  them  at  the  time  of  its  independence ;  but,  follow- 
ing the  custom  of  Egypt  and  Western  Asia,  it  made  its  exchanges 
principally  with  bullion,  as  China  still  does,  and  by  barter,  or  with 
pieces  of  leather,  which,  bearing  the  stamp  of  the  state,*  pla^-ed  the 
part  of  om'  paper  money.  This  practice  need  hardly  surprise  us, 
as  something  analogous  to  it  has  been  found  among  the  Assyrians, 
from   whom   Phoenicia   borrowed   so   much.^ 

-  App.,  Bell.  Pun.  4  ;  Strabo,  xvii.  802  ;  Montesq.,  Esp.  des  Lois,  xxi.  11. 

^  Strabo,  iii.  176.  Tlie  captain  being  saved,  Carthage  restored  liini,  at  the  public 
e.xpense,  all  he  had  lost. 

"  Lenormant,  La  Monnaie  dans  I'antiquUe,  i.  266.  The  author  behaves  that  Carthage 
began  to  coin  pieces  of  gold  at  home  only  towards  350. 

'  Cf.  Eckhel,  Doctrina  Numm.  iv.  136. 

^  From  the  ninth  century  b.  c.  the  Assyrians  had  small  clay  bricks,  which  were  real  letters 
of  credit,  enabling  the  merchants  of  Babylon  and  Nineveh  to  dispense  with  the  cumbrous  and 
sometimes  dangerous  transport  of  specie.     (Lenormant,  ibid.  i.  113.) 


538 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 


III.  — ■  Mercenaries. 


To  give  its  commerce  scope  and  security,  to  be  mistress  of  the 
seas,  Carthage  only  wanted  quiet  possession  of  the  isles  and  coast- 
line. However  restricted  these  pretensions  were,  armies  were  re- 
quired to  realize  them.  But  as  soon  as  war  becomes  simply  a 
commercial  matter,  a  means  of  assuring  the  return  of  capital  and 
the  sale  of  merchandise,  why  should  not  the  merchants  pay 
soldiers  as  they  pay  agents  and  clerks  ?     Venice,  Milan,  Florence  — 


FIGURES    PLACED    AT    THE    PROWS    OF    PUNIC    SHIPS.' 

all  the  Italian  repul)lics  of  the  15th  century  had  condottieri ;  Eng- 
land has  often  bought  them.  It  was  a  Phoenician  practice:  "The 
-Persians,  Lydians,  and  the  men  of  Libya,"  said  Ezekiel  to  the  city 
of  Tyre,  "were  in  thine  army,  thy  men  of  war:  they  hanged  the 
shield  and  helmet  in  thee;  they  set  forth  thy  comeliness."^  Car- 
thage had,  therefore,  its  mercenaries.     Horses  were  bought  and  ships, 

1  We  may  suppose  that  Carthage  followed  the  usage  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  who  placed 
monstrous  dwarfs  at  the  prow  of  their  ships  (Muse'e  Napoleon,  vol.  iii.  pi.  19).  See  (p.  542) 
what  is  said  of  Carthaginian  art. 

2  xxvii.  10. 


CARTHAGE. 


539 


which  tlicy  armed  at  the  prow  with  deformed  dwarfs  to  excite 
terror ;  they  also  bought  men,  and  from  the  Alps  and  Pyrenees  to 
the  Atlas  Mountains  there  were  plenty  of  swords  for  hire!  Every 
one  of  Carthage's  factories  became  a  recruiting  office.  The  prices 
were  low,  for  the  emulation  was  great  amongst  the  poor  and 
greedy  barbarians  who  encircled  the  narrow  border  of  the  Car- 
thaginian possessions.  Besides,  Carthage  understood  her  business. 
She  shipped  the  women,  children,  and  even  the  effects  of  her 
mercenaries,  —  they  were  so  many  hostages  of  their  fidelity  ;  or  after 


OFFERING    (f.X-VOTO.)^ 


THE    GODDESS    TANIT    (eX-VOTO)." 


a  murderous  campaign  they  fell  to  the  treasury.  No  one  was 
refused,  neither  the  Balearic  slinger,^  nor  the  Numidian  horseman,'' 
armed  with  a  buckler  of  elephant's  hide  and  covered  with  the  skin 
of  a  lion  or  panther,  nor  the  Spanish  and  Gallic  foot-soldier,  nor  the 
Greek,  whom  they  employed  in  every  capacity,  —  spy,  sailor,  builder, 
in  time  of  need  even  general.^ 

The    more     different    races     there    were    in     the    Carthaginian 

'  A  Carthasiniun  iiiakinj^  an  offering  before  an  altar. 

2  Toji  of  a  ste.le  of  the  temple  of  Tanit,  wliere  the  goddess,  who  was  "the  splendor  of 
Baal,"  that  is  to  say,  the  moon,  is  reflection  of  the  god,  whose  wife  she  was,  is  represented 
holding  a  child.     To  the  right  and  left  on  the  acrole.ria  the  crescent  moon  above  the  sun's  disc. 

8  The  reputation  of  these  slingers  is  known.  Strabo  says  (iii.  168)  that  the  Baleares  gave 
bread  to  their  children  only  by  placing  it  on  a  spot  which  they  had  to  reach  by  the  sling.  Cf. 
Floras  (iii.  8),  Lycophron  {Alex.,  p.  CJT),  and  Uiodorus  (v.  18),  who  say  the  same  thing. 

*  Polyb.,  i.  1.5. 

^  Xanthippus.  Polyb.,  i.  7.  See  in  the  chapter  following  the  history  of  the  llhodian  of 
Lilybaeum. 


540  THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 

army,  the  more  confidence  Carthage  felt ;  a  revolt  seemed  im- 
possible among  men  who  could  not  understand  each  other's 
speech.  Besides,  the  general,  his  principal  officers  and  his  guard, 
called  the  sacred  battalion,^  were  Carthaginians ;  and  the  senators 
always  kept  some  of  their  colleagues  near  him,  to  watch  over  his 
conduct,  and  make  sure  that  all  these  men  were  well  earning 
their  pay.  The  love  of  fame  and  of  country,  devotion  to  the  state, 
—  all  those  grand  words,  which  at  Rome  wrought  miracles,  had 
no  currency  with  the  Carthaginian  Senate.  There  was  much  talk 
of  receipts  and  expenditures  —  very  little  of  national  honor ;  hence 
the  resources  of  the  country  were  exactly  measured  by  those  of  the 
treasury.  When  that  was  full,  soldiers  were  lavished  with  care- 
less prodigality ;  when  it  was  exhausted,  Carthage  yielded,  or 
negotiated :  the  transaction  had  been  a  failure.  In  case  of  suc- 
cess, the  disbursements  were  quickly  made  good,  and  the  dead 
mercenaries  forgotten.  What  matter  if  there  were  forty  or  fifty 
thousand  barbarians  less  in  the  world !  These  mercenaries  might 
sometimes  be  dangerous ;  but  in  that  case  it  was  easy  to  get 
rid  of  them,  —  witness  the  four  thousand  Gauls  given  up  to 
the  sword  of  the  Romans,  the  troop  abandoned  on  the  desert 
Isle  of  Bones,^  and  Xanthippus,  who  perhaps  perished  like 
Carmagnola. 

Such  a  system  might  last,  so  long  as  distant  expeditions  only 
were  concerned  ;  but  the  moment  that  war  drew  near  her  own 
walls,  Carthage  was  lost.  Her  citizens,  having  committed  to  mer- 
cenaries the  care  of  their  defence,  found  few  resources  in  themselves 
when  they  stood  alone  in  face  of  the  enemy.  Even  if  they  had  had 
a  senate  able  to  send  to  the  Romans,  when  making  a  descent  on 
Africa,  the  answer  of  Appius  to  the  King  of  Epirus,  still  they 
could  not  have  made  legionaries,  like  those  of  Asculum  and  Bene- 
ventum,  out  of  their  shopboys.  "  A  crowd  of  virtues  belongs  to 
the  pursuit  of  arms ; "  ^  and  war,  while  a  great  misfortune,  gives  to 

1  For  the  Carthaginian  citizen  military  service  was  so  meritorious  that  he  desired  to  keep 
perpetual  remembrance  of  it.  The  law  considered  that  to  gird  the  sword  was  quite  an 
exploit,  and  authorized  the  citizen  to  wear  as  many  rings  as  he  had  made  campaigns.  (Arist., 
Polit.  vii.  2,  6.) 

^  'Oo-TfcoSr/r.     Diod.,  V.  11. 

*  Chateaubriand  says :  "  A  people  accustomed  to  see  only  the  variations  of  the  funds  and 
the  yard  of  cloth  sold,  if  it  find  itself  exposed  to  a  disturbance,  will  be  able  to  show  neither  the 


CARTHAGE. 


541 


a  military  people  qualities  which  outside  camps  are  not  known. 
Like  the  Jews  and  Tyrians,  their  brethren,  the  Carthaginians  learnt 
how  to  fight  only  in  their  last  days ;  but  like  them  also,  at  the 
crisis  they  were  heroic. 


IV.    TuE  Constitution. 


Besides,    the    mercenaries    only    appeared    at    periods    of    de- 
cadence, —  m  Greece,  after  Alexander ;  in  the  Roman  Empire,  after 


POMEGRANATE    (eX-VOTO).I 


ELEPHANT    (EX-VOTO).' 


the  Antonines ;  in  Italy,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  after  the  Lombard 
League.  When  Rome  and  Carthage  met,  according  to  Polybius,^ 
the  former  was  in  the  full  force  of  its  ro})ust  constitution ; 
the  other  had  reached  that  senility  of  states  when  the  en- 
feebled organization  is  no  longer  directed  by  an  energetic  will. 
The  assertion  of  the  merits  of  poverty  had  disappeared  with  the 
declamations  on  the  virtues  of  the  golden  age.  The  poor  man  is 
not  necessarily  a  good  citizen,  and  the  rich  a  bad  one ;  but  riches 
as   well    as    indigence    can   produce   mischief.      Now    there   was   at 

energy  of  resistance  nor  the  generosity  of  sacrifice.  Repose  begets  cowardice  ;  among  shuttles 
there  is  fear  of  swords ;  a  crowd  of  virtues  belongs  to  arms." 

1  Taken  from  a  ■■<tele  of  the  temple  of  Tanit.  The  pomegranate  being  consecrated  to 
Adonis,  this  representation  would  indicate  some  relation  between  the  worship  of  Tanit  and 
that  of  Adonis.  These  two  designs  show  more  manual  dexterity  in  the  reproduction  of  animals 
and  plants  than  is  to  be  found  in  that  of  the  human  figure. 

2  Polyb.,  vi.  51.     [Greeks  served  for  pay  from  early  days,  as  already  mentioned.  —  Ed.J 


542 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 


Carthage  too  miTcli  opulence  and  too  little  of  that  high  spirit  which 
raises  the  soul  above  fortune.  This  great  city  had  skilful  mer- 
chants, bold  voyagers,  wise  counsellors,  and  incomparable  generals ; 
we  cannot  name  a  poet,   an  artist,  or  a  philosopher.^      It  will  be 

quite  enough  to  see  the  reproduction 
which  we  give  of  some  specimens  of 
the  three  thousand  ex-votos  found  at 
Carthage,  to  learn  that,  true  to  its 
origin,  this  people  had  no  more  art 
than  their  metropolis.  It  was  active 
enough,  but  not  thoughtful ;  and  its 
religion,  at  once  licentious  and  sanguin- 
ary, and  for  that  rea.'^on  very  tenacious, 
exercised  no  moral  influence  on  private 
life,  no  useful  influence  on  the  govern- 
ment ;  whilst  that  of  the  Romans  promoted  virtuous  conduct,  and 
its  priests,  nearly  all  magistrates  or  senators,  spoke  in  the  name 
of  Heaven  to  give  sanctions  to  political  wisdom.^ 


EX-VOTO    OF   THE    TEMPLE    OF 
TANIT.- 


1  In  spite  of  the  luxury  of  the  temples  .and  palaees,  art  was  at  Rome,  as  at  Tyre,  only 
a  foreign  importation.  In  the  temple  of  Melkart  at  Tyre,  where  Herodotus  (ii.  44)  saw  a  gold 
column  .ind  one  of  emerald,  there  was  no  image  of  the  god.     The  same  in  the  temple  of  Gades : 

.  .   .  nulla  pjlJiqies,  siviulacnwe  notadeorani 
Majestate  locum  implevere  llinore. 

SiLius  Italicds  :  Punica,  iii.  30. 

There  were  some  books  at  Carthage,  since  the  Senate  gave  them  to  Masinissa,  and  Sallust 
{Jug.,  p.  1 7)  saw  them  ;  but  there  is  no  literary  work  extant  but  Mago's  treatise  on  agriculture. 
It  has  been  thought  that  the  sculptor  Boethos  was  a  Carthaginian ;  but  the  best  editions  of 
Pausanias  have  the  reading  'HakKr^huvim  in  place  of  Xapp^ijSoi^ios,  which  uuikes  Boethos  to 
lie  a  Greek  of  Chalcedon  (see  the  I'ausanias,  ed.  Didot,  V.  xvii.  4).  They  make  Clitom- 
achus  also  a  Carthaginian,  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  New  Academy ;  but  he  li\ed  a  long  time 
at  Athens,  and  there  succeeded  (in  129  b.  c.)  Carneades.  He  was  still  teaching  there  in  111 
(Cicero,  Be  Oral.  i.  11),  and  he  is  traced  there  as  far  as  the  year  100.  He  was  a  Greek,  at 
least  in  education,  as  another  Carthaginian,  Terence,  was  a  Roman. 

2  A  pediment  somewhat  Greek,  then  two  figures  of  geometrical  appearance,  and  which 
are,  in  fact,  the  rudimentary  representation  of  the  sacred  cone  (Venus  of  Paphos,  Tacit.,  Hist. 
ii.  3,  black  stone  of  Emesa,  Cybele,  etc.),  which  was  the  image  of  Tanit,  of  whom  the  Graeco- 
Romans  have  made  the  Heavenly  Virgin.  "  There,  indeed,  where  the  Aryan  mind  sees  at- 
mospheric phenomena,  the  Semite  sees  persons,  who  become  united  and  beget  others.  .  .  .  The 
o])en  hand  seen  from  the  front   is  the  hand  of  the  divinity  which  blesses."      (Berger,  Les 

•  Ex-voto  du  temple  de  Tanit,  p.  1 2.) 

s  Note  explanatory  ofthejigure.i  of  the  plate  (p.  543)  :  No.  1,  Attitude  of  adoration  ;  No.  2, 
Hand  of  the  goddess  blessing,  whose  power  is  indicated  by  the  immoderate  size  of  the  thumb,  on 
which  is  graven  its  image ;  No.  3,  The  ears  of  the  god  "  who  hears,"  and  his  mouth,  "  which 
blesses;"  No.  4,  Disk  of  Venus  surmounting  the  globe  of  the  sun.  with  two  uraei,  symbols  of 
Baal-IIammon,  formed  by  two  crowned  serpents  surrounding  the  solar  disk  ;  No.  5,  in  the  centre 


NO.   I.     AKORATIOJf.  NO.   2.     HAND   OF   A    GOD    BLESSING.  NO.  3.     KX-VOTO. 


NO.  4.     DISK    OF    VENUS. 


NO.  C.     SHIP. 


NO.  5.    PALM-TREE    AND    ENSIGNS. 


NO.   7.    CnAHIOT. 


%^^^ 


NO.  8.    TROPHY.  NO.  9.    PLOUGH.  NO.   10.    CANDELABRUM. 

REMAINS    OF    CARTHAGINIAN    ART    (sEE    PAGE   542,    NOTE    3). 


CARTHAGE.  545 

The  Romans  pillaged  the  enemy;  they  did  not  pillage  the 
state.  At  Carthage,  in  the  latter  days,  all  was  for  sale,  and  all 
was  sold,  principles  as  well  as  places.  As  wealth  gave  power, 
honors,  and  pleasure,  no  means  of  acquiring  it,  whether  by  force 
or  astuteness,  seemed  illegitimate.  "Among  the  Carthaginians," 
says  Polybius,  "in  whatever  way  riches  are  acquired,  one  is  never 
blamed;  high  places  are  bought."  Aristotle  also  says  that  the 
rich  alone  held  office.  Carthage  loved  gold ;  she  got  possession  of 
it,  and  she  utterly  ceased  to  live  on  tlie  day  when  she  lost  it,  — 
receperunt  mercedem  suam. 

Nevertheless,  Aristotle  boasts  of  the  excellence  of  her  govern- 
ment.^ It  was  a  constitution  made  up  of  different  elements, — 
royalty,  aristocracy,  democracy ;  but  there  did  not  exist  among 
these  powers  the  just  balance  which  is  the  advantage  of  this 
kind  of  polity :  oligarchy  was  really  supreme.  Two  suffetes 
{shophetim,  i.  e.  judges),  chosen  out  of  privileged  families,  and  ori- 
ginally appointed  for  life,  by  the  general  assembly,  were  the  highest 
magistrates  of  the  Republic :  some  Greek  and  Latin  writers  give 
them  the  name  of  kings.^  After  them  came  the  Senate,  in  which 
all  the  great  families  had  representatives.  To  facilitate  the  action 
of  the  government  by  concentrating  it,  there  was  taken  from  the 
Senate  the  council  of  the  centumviri,  or  of  the  hundred  and  four, 
according  to  Aristotle.  The  latter  by  degrees  usurped  the  power, 
so  that  the  suffetes  became  an  annual  office,  and,  being  deprived 
of  the  command  of  the  armies,  were  no  more  than  presidents  of  this 
council  and  the  religious  chiefs  of  the  nation.  The  centumviri, 
who  recruited  themselves  by  co-option,  could  call  the   generals  to 

a  palm-tree  with  two  clusters  of  dates,  to  the  right  and  left  two  pikes  representing  ensigns; 
No.  6.  Ship's  prow ;  No.  7,  Chariot  with  full  wliecls ;  No.  8,  Panoply  showing  that  the  conical 
helmet  represented  is  like  the  conical  helmets  found  at  Cannae,  and  which,  after  our  drawing, 
should  be  considered  as  Carthaginian ;  No.  9,  Plough ;  No.  10,  Candelabrum  (extract  from 
a  memoir  by  Mons.  Ph.  Berger  on  Lex  Ex-voto  du  temple  de  Tank  a  Carthaije).  Let  what 
precious  monuments  come  from  the  small  town  of  Pompeii  be  compared  with  what  the  temple 
of  Tanit  yields  to  us,  and  whatever  allowance  we  may  make  for  profanations  and  pillage,  the 
thought  must  strike  us  that  the  Carthaginians,  in  spite  of  their  nearness  to  Sicily,  had  only 
rude  forms  of  art. 

1  Arist.,  Polit.  ii.  8.  Cicero  says  also:  Nee  lantum  Carthago  Tiahuisset  opum  scxcentos 
fere  annos  sine  consiliis  el  disciplina.     (Z)e  Rep.  i.  fragm.  inc.  3.) 

2  Corn.  Nepos  (Hannib.  7).  Arist.  (Pol.  ii.  8)  compares  them  to  the  kings  of  Sparta,  and 
calls  them  ffaa-iXus.  Livy  (xxx.  7)  comjiares  them  to  the  consuls  ;  cf.  Zon.,  viii.  8.  Gades 
had  two  suffetes  (Livy,  xxviii.  37),  and  the  case  was  probably  the  same  in  all  the  Phoenician 
and  Carthaginian  colonies. 

VOL.    I.  35 


546  •  THE   PUNIC   WARS   FEOM   264   TO   201. 

account;  they  made  use  of  this  right  to  control  all  the  military 
forces  of  the  Republic.  In  time  the  other  magistrates  and  the 
Senate  itself  found  themselves  subjected  to  their  control.^  As 
senators,  they  filled  the  committees  formed  in  the  Senate  to  control 
each  of  the  branches  of  the  administration,  —  the  navy,  internal 
police,  military  affairs,  etc.,  and  as  centumviri  they  exercised,  more- 
over, supervision  over  these  committees.  Finally,  they  formed  the 
tribunal  before  which  were  brought  judicial  matters,  —  perhaps  in  the 
committee  of  the  Thirty,  whose  members  were  for  life,^  and  who 
seem  to  have  been  a  privy  council.^  The  nomination  to  offices  and 
the  right  of  intervening,  in  case  of  disagreement,  between  the 
suffetes    and    the    Senate    constituted    the    sole    prerogatives    of   the 

public   assembly. 

We  cannot  be  quite  sure  that  what  has  just  been  said  is  a 
faithful  summary  of  the  Carthaginian  constitution.  The  informa- 
tion of  the  ancients  is  insufficient,  and  on  many  points  contradic- 
tory ;  ■*  Irat  they  agree  in  showing  the  long-continued  preponderance 
in  this  Republic  of  the  oligarchy,  which,  to  keep  away  the  poor 
from  the  government,  had  made,  as  at  Rome,  all  public  functions 
unsalaried,  and  permitted  the  same  citizens  to  hold  several  offices 
at  the  same  time.  To  select  senators  and  judges  Athens  consulted 
the  lot,  which  is  very  democratic ;  Carthage  consulted  wealth  only, 
which  is  not  so. 

The  Senate,  and  in  the  Senate  the  centumvirs,  were  for  a  long 
time  the  sole    masters   of   government.     If   liberty,  as   the    Greeks 

1  Livy,  XXX.  IG  ;  xxxiii.  46.  The  tribunal  of  the  Forty  at  Venice  united  also  all  their 
powers.  (See  Daru,  bk  xxxix. ;  Arist.  {Pol.  ii.  8)  speaks  of  the  (rvaaina  tS>v  iratprnp.)  These 
associations,  where  they  prepared  subjects  for  deliberation  in  the  Senate,  — in  circulis  convivus- 
que  cdcbrata  sermonibus  res  est,  dehule  in  senatu  quidam  (Livy,  xxxiv.  Gl),  —  were  an  element  of 
etrength  to  the  aristocracy,  which  was  besides  renewed  by  the  accession  of  the  newly  become 
rich.  °  Observe  that  the  Carthaginians  had  not  family  names  any  more  than  the  Jews. 

2  Justin,  xix.  2,  5,  and  Livy,  xxxiii.  46  :  res  fama  vkaque  omnium  in  illornm  potestate 
erat.     Qtd  unum  ejus  ordinis  offendisset,  omnes  adversos  hahehat. 

3  .  .  .  Triginta  seniorum  principes:  id  cral  sanctius  apud  illos,  consilium,  maximaque  ad 
ipsum  senatum  regendum  vis.     (Livy,  xxx.  IG.) 

<  The  two  men  who  have  spoken  with  the  greatest  authority  respecting  the  institutions  of 
Carthage,  Aristotle  and  Polvbius.  are  separated  by  two  centuries,  since  the  former  died  in  322, 
and  the"latter  in  1 22.  The  one  knew  Carthage  in  prosperity,  and  finds  its  government  excellent ; 
the  other  saw  its  ruin,  and  blames  its  institutions.  Both  sj.eak  truly,  though  inconsistently; 
and  this  difference  is  explained  by  the  difference  of  the  times  when  they  lived.  Yet  Aristotle 
had  said :  "  H  ever  any  great  reverse  happen  to  them,  if  their  subjects  refuse  tliem  obedience, 
the  Carthaginians  will  find  no  means  in  their  constitution  to  save  themselves." 


CAllTHAGE. 


547 


COIN    OK    CAMAKINA.- 


of  the  decadence  understood  it,  suffered,  empire  profited,  for 
the  Carthaginian  Senate  had  tlie  immutable  policy  belonging  to 
great  aristocratic  bodies,  which,  pursuing  the  same  designs  with 
energy  and  prudence  for  several  generations,  do  more  for  the  future 
of  states  than  the  often-changing  influence  of  popular  assemblies. 
It  maintained  during  one  whole 
war  the  same  generals  in  office, 
—  for  example,  Hannil^al,^  tlie  de- 
fender of  x\grigentum  ;  Carthalo, 
the  destroyer  of  the  Roman  fleet 
among  the  rocks  of  Camarina  ;  Ad- 
herbal,  the  conqueror  at  Dreiianum; 

Himilco,  who  for  nine  years  held  Lilybaeum ;  and,  above  all, 
Amilear  Barca,  over  whom  for  six  years  all  the  efforts  of  his 
powerful  adversaries  could  not  triumph.  But  it  Avatched  their 
acts  and  punished  their  faults,  not  always  their  misfortunes; 
thus  he  who  was  conquered  at  Mylae,  being  surprised  by  an 
unusual  manoeuvre,  did  not  lose  its  confidence.  It  is  blamed 
for  some  rigorous  decisions ;  it  was  right  to  remove  from  com- 
mands the  incapable,  or  to  strike  ambitious  fools,  who  deserve 
the  extremest  severities  when  they  have  lost  the  army  or 
compromised  the  state.  In  home  affairs  it  did  not,  like  Athens, 
give  up  the  tribunals  to  the  people,  —  that  is  to  say,  justice  to 
popular  passions ;  and  so  well  did  it  defend  the  civil  power 
against  military  chiefs  and  demagogues,  that  there  was  not  seen 
to  arise,  during  a  space  of  five  hvmdred  years,  one  of  those 
tyrannies  which  were  so  often  bred  elsewhere  from  the  favor 
of  the  army  or  demagogic  excesses.^  The  populace,  restrained 
by   a   whole    system    of    aristocratic    institutions,   attached    to    the 


1  The  foUowint;  are  the  meanings,  as  given  by  M.  de  Sauli'y,  of  some  Carthaginian  names  : 
Hannibal  (khanui-Baal),  "Baal  has  taken  me  into  favor;"  Asdrubal  (aazeron-Baal),  "Baal 
has  protected  him,"  or  "  protects  him : "  Amilear  (abd-Melkart),  "  the  servant  of  Melkart ;  " 
Hannon  (khannoun),  "  the  gracious ;  "  !Maharbal  (mahar-Baal),  "  present  from  Baal ;  "  Bodos- 
tor  (abd-Astaroth),  "the  servant  of  Astarte;"  Bomilcar  (abd-Melkart),  "the  servant  of 
Melkart." 

^  Theatrical  mask  or  head  of  Medusa ;  on  the  reverse,  six  globules,  mark  of  the  i  lb. 
(6  ounces).     Very  ancient  bronze  coin  of  Camarina. 

^  Two  attempts  at  usurpation  are  quoted.  Aristotle  speaks  of  a  Hanno,  whom  he  com])ares 
to  Pausanias,  and  who,  in  340,  was  put  to  death,  after  frightful  tortures,  with  his  whole  family  ; 
and,  according  to  Justin  (xxi.  4),  Bomilcar  also  attempted,  in  308,  to  cause  a  revolution. 


548    .  THE    PUNIC   WARS    FROM  264  TO   201. 

government  by  the  opulence  of  the  charitable  establishments,^ 
was  also  periodically  enfeebled  by  the  sending  abroad  of  numer- 
ous colonies.  Carthage  thus  got  rid  of  this  populace,  without  na- 
tive ties  and  without  gods,  which  collects  in  great  merchant  cities, 
and  in  which  low  instincts,  brutal  passions,  hatred,  envy,  and  all 
covetousness  were  at  work.  War  stopped  this  current  of  emigra- 
tion, and  seditious  mobs  gathered  in  Carthage.  If  we  believe 
the  wisest  historian  of  antiquity,  the  Punic  wars,  which  at  Rome 
consolidated  union,  modified  the  constitution  for  the  profit  of  the 
multitude.  He  says,  "Among  the  Carthaginians,  it  was  the  people, 
before  the  war  of  Hannibal,  who  decided  all;  at  Rome  it  was  the 
Sgnate.  So  the  Romans,  often  beaten,  triumphed  at  last  by  the 
prudence  of  their  plans."  ^  We  must  attribute,  if  we  follow 
Polybius,  this  great  fall  of  Carthage  to  its  demagogues :  they  have 
caused  that  of  many  other  states. 

'  "  The  Carthaginians  have  rich  estabUshments,  where  they  take  care  to  place  a  large 
number  of  citizens  of  the  lower  class.  It  is  thus  that  they  remedy  the  fault  of  their 
government,  and  assure  tranquillity  at  home."     (Arist.,  ii.  8.) 

2  Polyb.,  vi.  51  ;  of.  xv.  30. 


/ 


nKAD    OF    APOLLO   CROWNED   WITH    LAUREL;     ON   THE    REVERSE,    AIAYBAIITAN    AND   A 
LYRE.      BRONZE    COIN   OF    LILYBAEUM. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

THE  FIRST  FUNIC  ¥AE  (264-241). 

I.  —  The  Treaties  between  Rome  and  Carthage  (509-279). 

ROME  and  Cartilage  liad  known  each  other  for  a  long  time  ; 
three  times  they  had  sealed  their  alliance  by  treaties,  for  they 
had  the  same  enemies,  —  the  pirates  who  infested  the  Tyrrhenian 
Sea  and  pillaged  the  coasts  of  Latium;  later  on,  the  Italiot  Greeks 
and  Pyrrhus. 

We  can  still  quote  these  monuments  of  a  very  ancient  diplomacy ; 
Polybius  had  read  them  on  tables  of  bronze  preserved  in  the 
archives  of  the  aediles.  They  are  doubly  interesting,  —  as  regards 
the  history  of  political  events,  and  that  of  the  law  of  nations. 
The  most  ancient,  which  is  at  once  a  treaty  of  alliance  and  of 
commerce,  was  negotiated  by  Tarquin,  and  concluded  by  the  first 
consuls  of  the  Republic  (509).  "  Between  the  Romans  and  their 
allies  on  the  one  part,  the  Carthaginians  and  their  allies  on  the 
other,  there  shall  be  peace  and  amity  on  the  following  conditions : 
The  Romans  and  their  allies  shall  not  sail  their  war-ships  beyond 
[east  of]  Cape  Bon  (Prom.  Pulchrum),  imless  they  be  driven  thither 
by  tempest  or  chased  by  their  enemies.  In  that  case  they  shajl  be 
permitted  to  buy  there  or  to  take  thence  what  shall  be  necessary 
for  the  repair  of  the  vessels,  and  for  sacrifices  to  the  gods,  and 
they  shall  undertake  to  leave  in  five  days.  Their  merchant-ships 
shall  be  able  to  trade  at  Carthage  ;  but  no  bargain  shall  be  valid 
unless  it  shall  have  been  made  by  the  medium  of  the  public  crier 
and  writer.  For  everything  sold  in  their  presence,  the  public  credit 
shall  be  a  guaranty  as  regards  the  seller.  The  same  shall  apply 
in  Africa  (on  the  territory  of  Carthage),  in  Sardinia,  and  in  the 
part  of  Sicily  under  the  Carthaginians.  The  Carthaginians  shall 
do  no  harm  to  the  peoples  of  Ardea,  Antium,  Laurentum,  Circei, 


550  . 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM  264   TO   L'Ol. 


and  Terracina,  nor  to  any  other  Latin  people  subject  to  Rome. 
They  shall  abstain  from  attacldng  (in  that  part  of  Italy)  the 
cities  not  subjects  of  the  Romans ;  if  they  take  one,  they  shall 
relinquish  it  to  the  Romans  without  doing  it  damage.  They 
shall  not  build  any  forts  in  Latium,  and  if  they  disembark 
in  arms  upon  Latin  territory,  they  shall  not  pass  the  night 
there." 


11'"'""' ^'\'/    ~r. 


*,¥,;., 


iUil 


11"" 


Co,- 


siciLy       ^ 

for 
THE  1!*  PUNIC   WAR 


v-l^    Mr  111,, 


Scale  _4.Soo.  ooo 
Roman  -  MiZes 


.  ff  V  ri^i/neXers 


This  treaty  shows  what  degree  of  power  Rome  had  reached 
under  its  kings,  how  it  then  protected  its  subjects  and  Latin 
allies,  and  what  advantages  it  assured  their  commerce  even  on  the 
distant  shores  of  Libya,  without,  however,  obtaining  from  Carthage 
for  their  ships  free  entrance  into  the  Levant.' 

1  [Rather  from  entering  the  Gulf  of  Carthage,  and  proceeding  to  the  rich  country  about 
the  Lesser  Svrtes,  Byracium,  and  Emporia.  The  genuineness  of  this  treaty,  as  to  age,  being 
attacked  by  Mommsen,  has  been  recently  defended  by  many  scholars,  and  seems  fairly  estab- 
lished. Cf.  the  account  in  Neumann's  Zeitalter  der  Pun.  Kriegi;  pp.  53-58,  where  the  editor 
(Faltin)  cites  the  recent  literature  on  the  subject,  especially  Nisseu  in  the  Jahrbiicher  f.  Klas. 
Phil,  for  18G7,  pp.  321  seij.  —  Ed.'\ 


THE   FIRST   PUNIC   WAR   FROM   264   TO   241.  551 

The  second  treaty  is  later  by  mure  than  a  century  and  a 
half  (348  B.  c).  Rome  had  employed  the  hundred  and  sixty-two 
years  in  recovering  that  wliich  the  setting  up  of  the  Republic 
had  cost.  Carthage,  on  the  contrary,  secure  from  revolutions 
under  its  aristocratic  government,  had  grown  in  strength  and 
riches.  Among  its  allies  it  names  this  time  Utica  and  Tyre, 
because  it  now  represents  all  the  ambitions  of  the  Phoenician  race, 
united  against  those  Greeks  who  come  into  so  riide  a  rivalry  with 
the  ancient  masters  of  the  Mediterranean,  who  dispute  with  them 
Sicily,  and  threaten  at  the  same  time  the  Roman  coast  of  Latium 
and  the  Punic  factories  of  the  Tyrrhenian  Sea.  So  its  words  are 
more  haughty  and  its  concessions  less  favorable.  By  the  former 
treaty  it  interdicted  the  Romans  from  navigating  the  Eastern 
Mediterranean ;  it  maintains  this  prohibition,  and  adds  another, 
that  of  not  passing  the  Pillars  of  Hercules.  It  takes  from  them 
the  right  of  traffic  in  Sardinia  and  Africa,  and  no  longer  engages 
not  to  molest  the  Latin  cities  which  it  might  take  outside  the 
Roman  territory.  It  still  consents,  indeed,  to  give  up  such  towns 
to  its  allies,  but  cleared  of  gold  and  captives,  which  this  time  it 
intends  to  keep.^ 

The  third  treaty  is  in  the  year  279  b.  c.^  Pyrrhus  being  then 
ill  Italy,  and  disturbing  both  Carthage  and  Rome,  these  two  cities 
renewed  their  old  compact  of  friendship.  They  stipulated  that 
neither  of  the  two  nations  should  accept  from  the  King  conditions 
contrary  to  the  alliance,  and  that  if  one  of  the  two  peoples  were 
attacked  by  the  Epirots,  the  other  should  have  the  right  to  help 
it.^  "  Carthage  shall  furnish  transport  ships  for  the  voyage  out  and 
back,  but  the  auxiliaries  shall  be  paid  by  the  state  which  sends 
them.  The  Carthaginians  shall  bring  help  to  the  Romans  on  sea, 
should  the  latter  need  it ;  yet  the  ships'  crews  shall  not  be  forced 
to  land  if  they  refuse." 

These  treaties  were  confirmed  by  oaths.  The  Carthaginians 
swore  by  the   gods  of  their   fathers ;    the    Romans,  m    the   former 

1  [This  treaty  was  mainly  concerned  with  international  limitations  of  piracy,  wliich,  since 
the  fall  of  the  Etruscan  and  Dionysian  naval  powers,  was  restricted  by  no  powerful  marine, 
and  was  particularly  injurious  to  the  Romans,  who  had  no  fleet  to  overcome  it.  Cf.  Livy, 
vii  26,  and  Neumann,  op.  cit.  p.  60,  seq.  —  Ed.l 

^  [Really  the  fourth.     The  third  was  in  306  B.  c. ;  but  its  terms  are  unknown.  —  Ed.} 

^  .  .   .  2va  c^Tj  ^orjditv  aWrjXoK.      (Polyb.,  iii.  25.) 


552. 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 


treaties  by  Jupiter  Lapis,  in  the  last  by  Mars  and  Enyalius.^  The 
oath  by  Jupiter  Lapis  was  thus  tal^en  :  "  Tlie  fetial  takes  a  stone 
in  his  hand,  and,  after  liaving  sworn  by  tlie  public  faith  that  the 
conventions  shall  be  faithfully  kept,  he  adds :  '  If  I  speak  the 
truth,  let  happiness  be  mine  ;  if  I  think  differently  from  what  I 
say,  let  every  one  else    preserve  in   peace,  in  his    own  country  and 

under  its  laws,  his  property, 
penates,  and  their  tombs  ;  as  for 
myself,  let  me  be  cast  aAvay  as  I 
cast  away  this  stone.'  And  while 
saying  these  words  he  throws  the 
COIN  OF  SICILY.2  j,toj^g  f.^j.  away." 

We  have  seen  that  the  Carthaginians,  to  fulfil  one  of  the 
clauses  of  the  treaty,  before  it  had  even  been  requested  by  Rome, 
sent  to  Ostia  a  hundred  and  twenty  galleys.'^  The  Senate  did  not 
accept  this  help ;  under  their  refusal  was  hidden  the  confidence 
which  the  Romans  had  of  conquering  alone,  or  the  distrust  with 
which  such  forward  allies  inspired  them.  From  Ostia  the  admiral 
sailed  to  Tarentum,  and  offered  his  mediation  to  Pyrrhus.*  The 
Carthaginians  were  evidently  very  desirous  to  restore  the  King  to 
the  delights  of  his  Epirot  royalty.  He,  on  the  contrary,  dreamt 
only  of  battles  ;  he  passed  into  Sicily,  made  war  there  for  three 
years,  and  when  quitting  the  island  exclaimed :  ''  What  a  fair 
battle-field  we  are  leaving  to  the  Romans  and   Carthaginians !  "  ^ 


n.   Operations  in  Sicily  (264  b.  c.) 

Neither  Rome  nor  Carthage  could  yield  to  a  rival  power  the 
fine  island  situated  in  the  centre  of  the  Mediterranean,  which 
adjoins     Italy,    and    from     which    Africa    is    almost     visible.      If 

1  Enyalius,  or  the  bellicose,  was  at  first  a  surname  of  Mars ;  later  on  they  made  him  a 
son  of  that  god.     He  holds  probably,  in  the  language  of  Polybius,  the  place  of  Quirinus. 

^  Woman's  head  (probably  the  queen  Pliilistis,  whom  some  assign  as  wife  to  Hiero  II.) 
veiled  and  crowned  with  corn  ears  ;  behind,  a  leaf.  On  the  reverse,  2IKEAIQTAN  and  a 
monogram.     Victory  in  a  quadriga.     Coin  of  the  Sicilians. 

^  Justin,  xviii.  2. 

*  Justin,  xviii.  2.  Livy  tells  of  presents  which  Carthage  sent  in  the  years  342  and  30G  to 
Rome,  in  congratulating  them  on  their  successes  over  the  Samnites,  vii.  38  ;  ix.  43. 

^  A  quarrel  had  already  been  near  breaking  out  on  the  subject  of  Tarentum.     See  p.  473. 


THE  FIRST  PUNIC  WAR  FROM  264  TO  241. 


553 


COIN   OF   MESSINA.' 


Carthage  were  inistres.s  of  it,  .she  would  shut  up  the  Romans  in 
the  peninsula,  who.se  people  her  intrigues  and  gold  would  unceas- 
ingly be  arousing  to  revolt.  If  Rome  ruled  there,  the  commerce 
of  Carthage  would  be  inter- 
cepted, and  a  fair  wind  could 
in  less  than  a  night  convey 
the  legions  to  the  foct  of  her 
walls. 

Three  powers  divided  the 
island  between  them :  Hiero, 
tyrant  of  Syracuse  since  the  year  270,  the  Carthaginians,  and  the 
Maraertines,  or  sons  of  Mars.  The  last,  who  had  been  mercenaries 
of  Agathocles,^  had 
by  treason  seized  Mes- 
sina, and  from  this 
port  they  infested  the 
whole  island.^  Dio- 
dorus  represents  them 
pillaging  even  on  the 
south  coast,  where 
they  laid  waste  Gela, 
which  was  rising  from  its  ruins.  Hiero  wished  to  rid  Sicily  of 
them ;  he  beat  them,  threw  them  back  on  Messina,  and  was  going 
to  receive  their  submission,  when  the 
Carthaginian  governor  of  Lipari, 
Hanno,  disputed  this  conquest  with 
him.  The  Mamertines  then  remem- 
bered that  they  were  Italians ;  and 
preferring  a  protector  at  a  distance 
to   friends    so    close    at   hand,    they    sent    an    embassy    to    Rome. 


COIN   OF    HIERO   II.* 


THE    TRIQUETRA.5 


*  ME22ANIQN.  Hare  running ;  above,  head  of  Pan ;  below,  a  leaf.  On  the  reverse,  a 
figure  seated  in  a  biga  and  crowned  by  a  Victory ;  below,  a  leaf.  Silver  tetradrachma  of 
Messina. 

2  Festus  regards  them  as  a  sacred  spring  of  the  Samnites.     See  p.  114. 
8  See  p.  461. 

*  Head  with  diadem  of  Iliero  11. ;  the  reverse,  BA2I.\E02  IEPQN02.  Victory  in  a 
quadriga  at  a  gallop ;   in  the  field  a  star.     Silver  octodrachma. 

^  The  triquetra,  a  symbol  of  Sicily,  the  island  of  three  promontories,  Trinacria  ;  on  the 
reverse,  LENT.  COS.  Jupiter  standing,  holding  a  thunderbolt  and  an  eagle;  in  the  field  a 
strigil.     Silver  jK-nny  of  the  Cornehan  family. 


554 


THE   PUNIC   WAES   FROM   264   TO   201. 


The  Mamertines  were    notorious  pillagers.      What    the    garrison   of 
Rhegium,    so    severely    punished,    had    just    done    on    one    of    the 


li'ko  E.orCr. 


TYRRHENIAN        SEA 


•-^ 
^ 


.--''Charybdis      $^ 


Sin  ■Salvator 


^  ^-  - 


'  \jri.-iif 

^\    *^1  U^  SaaCifjvtuun 


v'*W 


'**"%ai»: 


^:;-;^<j;|i* 


15»»oE  of  Cr 


Scale    ibffooo 


THE    STKAIT8    OP    MESSINA    (PRESENT    STATE). 


libiL 


coasts   of   the    Straits,    the    Mamertines   had   done,   and  very  much 
worse,  on   the   other  side.      The    Senate   hesitated   at  undertaking 


THE   FIRST   PUNIC    WAR   FROM   264   TO    241. 


555 


COIN    OF    AGATHOCLES.l 


their  defence.  The  consuls,  less  scrupulous,  carried  the  matter 
before  the  people.  They  recalled  the  equivocal  conduct  of  the 
Carthaginians  at  Tarentum,  and  pointed  out  the  establishments 
of  this  people  in  Corsica,  in  Sar- 
dinia, in  the  Lipain  Islands,  in 
Sicily,  like  a  chain  which  already 
closed  the  Tyrrhenian  Sea,  and 
which  must  be  broken.  The  am- 
bition of  the  Romans  was  a  mix- 
ture of  pride  and  avarice.  They 
wished  to  command,  because  they  considered  themselves  to  be 
already  the  greatest  people  of  the  earth ;  they  wished  to  conquer, 
to  satisfy  their  taste  for  plunder ;  Sicily  and  Carthage  were  such 
a  rich  prey !  The  people  decided  that  succor  should  be  sent  to 
the  Mamertines ;  the  consul  despatched  in  great  haste  the  legionaiy 
tribune  C.  Claudius  to  Messina. 

He  was,  like  all  those  of  his  race,  an  energetic  man,  who 
stopped  at  nothing  if 
he  could  gain  his  end. 
He  passed  the  Straits 
at  the  risk  of  being 
seized  by  the  enemy, 
and  on  his  arrival  at 
Messina  found  Hanno 
established  in  the 
citadel  which  a  fac- 
tion had  delivered  to  liim.^  Claudius  wished  to  bring  over  troops, 
but  the  Carthaginian  vessels  closed  the  Straits.  "  Not  a  ship  shall 
pass,"  said  Hanno,  "  and  not  one  of  jonr  soldiers  shall  ever  wash 
his  hands  in  the  waters  of  Sicily."  However,  he  consented  to 
an  interview  with  the  tribune ;  in  the  midst  of  the  conference 
Claudius  caused  him  to  be  seized,  and  to  obtain  his  liberty, 
Hanno  surrendered  the  citadel.     On  his  return  to  Carthage  he  was 

1  K0PA2.  Head  of  a  Proserpine  ;  the  reverse,  Victory  setting  up  a  trophy ;  in  the  field  the 
triquelra.     As  inscription,  ArABOKAEIOS.     Silver  coin  of  Agathocles,  King  of  Syracuse. 

-  Head  of  Vulcan ;  on  the  reverse,  .MHAPION  and  a  jirow  of  a  vessel  with  the  acrnxtoHum, 
an  ornament  which  terminates  a  ship's  prow ;  the  six  globules  are  the  mark  of  the  i  denarius, 
Large-sized  bronze  money  of  Lipari. 

^  [No  doubt  this  party  argued  that  the  example  of  Ilhegium  made  the  Romans  more 
unsafe  allies  than  the  Carthaginians.  —  /irf.] 


COIN    OV    LIPAKI.- 


556 


THE   PUNIC   WAES   FEOM   264   TO    201. 


COIN    OF    THE    MAMERTINES.l 


crucified;   but  Rome  had  commenced  the  period  of   its  great  wars 
by  an  act  of  perfidy,  which,  with  many  others,  was  forgotten  by 

her  orators  when  they  arraigned 
"  Punic  faith "  in  the  Senate  and 
the  Forum. 

Hiero  and  the  Carthaginians 
united  in  hiying  siege  to  Messina. 
With  horrible  precaution,  the  Car- 
thaginians massacred  their  Itahan 
mercenaries ;  but  as  the  strait  was  scarcely  more  than  two  miles  in 
the  narrowest  part,  the  allies  coidd  not  prevent  the  consul  Appius 
Caudex^  taking  adA^antage  of  a  dark  night  to  send  across  twenty 
thousand  men  on  barks  and  small  boats,  lent  by  all  the  cities  on 
the    coast.      Appius    defeated   or  cowed   the  two   besieging   armies, 

which  were  not  very  considerable, 
for  Polybius  does  not  say  that 
their  retreat  was  the  result  of  a 
victory  by  the  Romans.  The  con- 
sul j)ursued  Hiero  as  far  as  the 
walls  of  Syracuse ;  the  place  was 
too  strong  to  be  taken  by  a 
sudden  attack,  and  the  malaria  from  the  marshes  of  the  Anapus 
forced  him  to  retire  (264).  He  retired  to  Messina,  where  he  left 
a  garrison.^  The  occupation  of  this  natural  and  secure  harbor, 
large  enough  to  hold  six  hundred  galleys  of  the  ancients,  and 
deep  enough  to  receive  the  largest  of  modern  vessels,  was  worth 
more  to  Rome  than  a  victory.  She  possessed  there  the  port  of  the 
island,  and  she  took  measures  for  its  safe  preservation.  This  pros- 
perous commencement  encouraged  the  Senate  to  push  on  the  war 
vigorously.  The  two  consuls  and  thirty-six  thousand  legionaries  • 
passed  the  following  year  in  Sicily,  where  sixty-seven  towns,  and 
amongst  them  Catana,  at  the  foot  of  Etna,  fell  into  their  power. 
Segesta,    the    most    ancient    ally   of    Carthage    in    the    island,    had 

*  Laurelled  head  of  young  ]\Iars  and  his  Greek  name,  APE02 ;  on  the  reverse,  MAMEP- 
TINQN.     An  eagle  on  a  thunderbolt.     Bronze  coin  of  the  Mamertines. 

^  From  the  name  of  liis  transport-ships,  caudicaruie.  [Most  writers  call  liim  Claudius.  — 
Ed.'] 

^  [Rather  he  tras  defeated  and  driven  into  Messina,  where  his  siege  was  raised  by  the 
victory  of  the  succeeding  consul  (MessaUa).  In  this  year,  too,  the  first  lloman  fleet  was  built. 
Cf.  Neumann,  op.  cit.,  p.  86. — Ed.J 


COIN    OF    GELA. 


THE   I'lRST   PUNIC   WAR   FEOM  264   TO   241. 


557 


COIN    OF    EHEGIUM 


COIN   OF    SEGESTA.5 


massaciHul  its  Punit'  gan-ison,  and  had  pleaded  its  pretended  Trojan 
descent  in  order  to  obtain  favor- 
able   terms    from    the    Romans. 
The    Senate    was    not  likeh'    to 
refuse  a  people,  which  attracted 
its  nobility  by  flattering  Roman 
vanity,    and    which    gave    such 
pledges  of  its  relationship.     The 
Segestans  were   declared   Uheri  et  immunes.     Hiero,  dismayed,  and 
reflecting  that  Syracuse  had  more  to 
lose,   in  the  matter  of   its  commerce, 
by    siding   with    Carthage    than   with 
Rome,  hastened  to  negotiate ;  he  gave 
up    his    prisoners,    paid    100    talents,^ 
and  remained  for  fifty  years  the  faith- 
ful ally  of  the  Romans. 

Never  was  Syracuse  in  a  happier  condition.  Theocritus  was 
there  then  cursing  the  war, 
and  praying  the  gods  to  cast 
into  the  Sardinian  sea  tlie 
enemies  who  were  destroying 
the  Sicilian  cities.*  We  would 
wish  to  believe  that  these 
idyls  were  a  true  picture  of 
the  happiness  of  this  little 
corner  of  land,  while  the  rest  of  the  world  was  shaken  by  the 
collision   of   two    great    nations. 

'  The  head  of  a  lion,  with  a  Ijranch  of  laurel  on  the  left.  On  the  reverse,  the  name  of  the 
town  PEFINOS,  in  aneient  Greek  backwards.  Ju])iter  sitting ;  an  ea^le  under  the  seat  of  the 
god  ;  the  whole  surrounded  with  a  wreath  of  laurel.     Tetradrachma  of  Rhegium. 

"  Diodorus  (xxiii.  5)  said  150,000  drachmas,  Polybius  100  talents,  Orosius  and  Eutropius 
200.     [The  prisoners  restored  were  those  taken  in  the  defeat  of  Ap.  Claudius.  —  Ed-I 

°  SETESTA  (boustrophedon,  see  p.  165, n.  1).   Head  of  a  woman  with  ahead-band;  on  the 
back,  a  dog  drinking.     A  silver  didrachma  of  Segesta. 
*  See  Idyl  xvi.,  especially  lines  82-97 :  — 

f;f^poi'?  €K  pdcroLO  KaKa  Tre'^'^fui'  avdyKa 
^apBoviov  Kara  Ki'/ia   .    .    . 

apyovs  6*  ipyd^oivro  Tf^r/Xoraf,  a\  S*   dfapid/iO( 
priKiav  ;^iXtaSeff  j^ordva  BianLavSe'ttTat 

fi/l    TTfSiOl'    [iXTJ^olvTO^    j36(S    S'    dy(\T}56v    €S    av\iv 

dpd^Via   S     €tff  ottX     dpd)(vai 
XcTrra  Biavrjcraivrot  jiods  6*   en  p.i]8'  ovoix    fij;. 


COIN    OF    AGEIGENTUM. 


558 


THE  PUNIC  WAES  FROM  264  TO  201. 


The  treaty  with  Hiero  assured  to  the  Romans  the  alliance 
of  the  national  party  in  Sicily,  and  relieved  them  from  the 
necessity  of  sending  from  Latium  provisions  and  stores,  which 
the  enemy's  fleet  would  have  been  able  to  intercept.  The  ambi- 
tion of  the  Senate  increased,  and  it  resolved  to  drive  out  the 
Carthaginians  from  the  whole  island,  where  the  excesses  of  their 
barbarous    bands  for   two    centuries    had   made    their    rule    odious. 


PLAN    OK    AGKIGENTUM. 


Agrigentum,  famous  among  all  the  Sicilian  towns  by  the  num- 
ber and  the  colossal  proportions  of  its  monuments,  was  a  very 
strong  position,  and  the  Carthaginians  had  made  their  arsenal  m 
'the  island.  Built  on  rocks,  of  which  some,  those  of  the  citadel, 
seemed  cut  perpendicularly,  and  surrounded  by  two  watercourses, 
which,  uniting  below  it,  fell  together  into  the  sea,  fiume  de  Girgenti, 
it  would  have  been  impregnable,  if  its  distance  from  the  shore  — 


THE   FIRST   rUNIC   WAR   FROM   264   TO   241. 


559 


COIN    OK    ACKIGENTtM. 


18  stadia,  or  about  2  miles  —  had  not  rendered  its  re-victualling  im- 
possible.' The  Roirians  besieged  it.  Not  knowing  yet  how  to  take  a 
place  by  the  aid  of  engines  of  war,  which  the  Greeks  had  long  since 
used,  they  established  themselves  at  the  east  and  west  of  the  town  in 
two  camps,  which  a  double  line  of  defences  protected  against  sorties 
and  succors  from  without.  There  they  stayed  for  seven  months, 
until  famine  opened  the  gates  for 
them.  Without  Hiero,  they  would 
themselves,  more  than  once,  have 
suffered  from  scarcity.  Hannibal, 
the  son  of  Gisco,  defended  the 
place  with  a  strong  garrison ;  the 
provisions  therein  diuiinished  the 
more  quickly.  Carthage  sent  an  army  to  succor  it  under  Hanno, 
who  seized  on  Heraclea  and  Herbessus,  where  the  two  consuls 
kept  their  stores  ;  the  convoys  of  Hiero  maintained  abundance  in 
the  Roman  camp,  and  Hanno  was  compelled  to  risk  a  battle, 
which  he  lost  in  spite  of  his  elephants.  Since  the  time  of 
Pyrrhus  the  legions  no  longer  feared 
these  clumsy  engines  of  war.  They 
killed  thirty  of  them,  and  took  eleven 
alive.  Profiting  by  tlie  darkness  of  a 
winter's  night,  and  by  the  negligence 
of  the  sentinels  rendered  over-confident 
by  the  late  victory,  Hannibal  crossed  the  Roman  lines  with  a  part 
of  his  troops.  The  unfortunate  town  was  sacked  by  the  conquerors, 
who  sold  as  slaves  twenty-five  thousand  of  its  inhabitants.  These 
three  campaigns  and  tliis  long  siege  had  already  tried  the  finances 
of  Carthage,  and  she  was  for  a  while  compelled  to  stop  the  pay 
of  her  mercenaries.  To  get  rid  of  the  too-spirited  complaints  of 
four  thousand  Gauls,  who  threatened  to  go  over  to  the  enemy,  a 
Carthaginian  general  promised  them  the  pillage  of  Entella.  They 
hastened  thither ;  Ijut  he  had  secretly  warned  the  Roman  general. 


COIN    OF    E.VTELLA. 


1  [The  site  of  Agrigentum  is  peculiar.  It  is  a  great  oval  plateau,  with  scarped  edges  laid, 
on  the  slope  of  a  hill,  and  reaching  from  the  summit  half  way  to  the  sea.  Along  the  lower  ediic 
of  this  plateau  there  is  a  splendid  row  of  temples,  from  which  you  look  over  the  descending  slojic 
to  the  sea.  Syracuse  has  similar  features  on  its  land  side,  that  is  to  sav,  at  the  summit  of  the 
slope  there  is  the  same  kind  of  steep  rock,  ])rotecting  the  city  from  the  land  side.  Pindar  seems 
to  have  thought  Agrigentum  the  most  beautiful  of  Greek  towns.  —  Erf.] 


560  THE   PUNIC   WAES   FROM   264   TO   201. 

and  the  Gauls,  having  fallen  into  an  ambuscade,  were  killed  almost 
to  a  man.  The  legionaries  were  also  without  pay  ;  but  not  a  com- 
plaint was  heard  among  the  army  of  citizens.  Before  Agrigentum,  a 
number  of  soldiers  suffered  themselves  to  be  killed  at  the  gates 
of  the  camp  to  give  the  dispersed  legions  the  time  to  rally ;  and 
if  any  quarrels  arose  between  them  and  their  alhes,  it  was  to 
obtain  the  most  pei-ilous  post  in  the  battle.^ 

From  the  tliird  year  of  the  war,  Carthage  possessed  only 
some  maritime  places  in  Sicily.  But  her  fleets  ravaged  the 
coasts  of  Italy,  closed  the  Straits,  and  rendered  all  conquest  pre- 
carious.^ The  Senate  understood  that  it  must  attack  the  enemy  on 
his  own  element  (261).  Thus  their  object  was  enlarged  as  it 
constantly  receded.  It  was  at  first  to  prevent  the  Carthaginians 
from  getting  possession  of  Messina ;  then  to  drive  them  from  the 
island ;  now  the  Senate  wished  to  sweep  them  from  the  sea. 


m.   Maritime  Operations  ;  Landing  of  the  Romans 
IN  Africa  (260-255). 

The  Romans  were  not  so  ignorant  of  maritime  aifairs  as  has 
been  supposed.  They  were  acquainted  with  the  cons-truction  and 
the  management  of  triremes ;  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
appearance  of  a  Roman  fleet  in  the  harbor  of  Tarentum  had 
provoked  the  war  with  Pyrrhus.  But  they  did  not  hke  the  sea; 
they  distrusted  the  "treacherous  element;"  and  as  their  military 
life  was  spent  on  land,  they  had  no  permanent  fleet,  although 
they  elected  magistrates,  duumviri  nacales,^  to  watch  over  the 
maintenance  of  a  fixed  naval  stock.  Also,  when  they  had  need 
of  vessels,  they  demanded  them  of  their  Etruscan  and  Greek 
subjects.  But  in  the  struggle  against  Carthage  they  required 
ships  of  the  line,  that  is  to  say,  vessels  with  high  bulwarks 
and  five  ranks  of  rowers.  A  Carthaginian  quinquereme,  which 
luid  foundered  on  the  coast  of  Italy,  served  as  a  model.  Such 
was    then    the    imperfection    of    this    art,   which    has    become   so 

1  Polybius,  i.  1 7. 

2  [Hence  Pliny  (xvi.  192)  says  they  built  a  fleet  in  45  days  against  Hiero,  viz.  263  B.C.— 
Ed.] 

^  [Viz.,  duumviri  classis  ornandac  rcficiendaeque  causa,  in  311  B.  c.  —  Ed.] 


"'"""""'i'llWlllliillllllllBlilJllliBfilBMHIIIMIilliiiiiliililllliaiBlllii:;^ 


THE   FIRST   PUNIC   WAR   FROM   264   TO   241. 


561 


WAR-SrilP   WITH    A 


elaborate,  that  two  months  sufficed  to  fell  the  wood,  build  and 
launch  one  hundred  and  twenty  ships,  and  to  form  and  train 
the  crews.^  All  these  sailors  were  not  novices ;  the  allies  had 
furnished  many  seamen  and  experienced  pilots.  They  nevertheless 
needt'd  courage  to  make  an  attack  with  such  a  fleet  on  the  first 
maritime  power  in  the  world.  The  consul  Cn.  Cornelius  Scipio  was 
taken,  it  is  true,  with  seventeen  vessels  in  an 
attempt  on  the  Aeolian  Islands  (Lipari) ;  but  his 
colleague  Duillius  defeated  near  Mylae  (Milazzo), 
the  Carthaginian  fleet  (260). 

In  the  naval  battles  of  antiquity,  the  vessels, 
armed  with  a  ram  at  the  j^i'ow,  sought  to  strike 
each  other  at  the  water-line ;  the  lightness  of  double  beak-uead.'^ 
the  ship  and  the  activity  of  the  sailors  were  then,  as  at  present,  the 
first  conditions  of  success,  and  the  galley-slaves  did  more  than 
the  soldiers  embarked  on  board,  ordinarily  few  in  number.  Athens 
used  to  put  but  ten  on  their  triremes  with  200  rowers.'^  After  the 
first  campaign  the  militar}^  genius  of  tlie  Romans 
invented  a  new  form  of  tactics.  Their  vessels, 
roughly  constructed  of  green  timber,  were  heavy 
machines,  which  could,  however,  by  the  aid  of 
oars,  be  forced  straight  at  the  enemv.  At  the 
bows  of  the  ship  Duillius  placed  a  gangway,* 
which,  falling  upon  an  enemy's  galley,  seized  it 
with  its  grappling-iron,  held  it  fast,  and  made  a  bridge  for  the 
soldiers.  The  science  of  the  Carthaginian  pilots  became  useless ;  it 
was  a  mere  land  battle,  in  which  the  legionaries  regained  their 
advantage,  and  Duillius  had  as  many  as  a  hundred  and  twenty 
on    board   each    ship.'^     When    the   Carthaginians    saw   the    Roman 


BEAK-HEAD    OF 
A    SHIl".^ 


1  A  few  months  suffice  the  Carthaginians  to  open  a  new  outlet  to  their  internal  harbor 
and  to  build  a  fleet  with  the  debris  of  their  houses.  One  cannot  but  be  astonished  at  an  art 
remaining  so  long  in  its  infancy,  which  was  practised  by  so  many  people. 

'^  Engraved  gem  of  tlic  Museum  of  Berlin. 

2  During  the  Peloponnesian  War.     Tliucyd.  ii.  'J.'!,  102;  iii.   91.  !).5 ;  and  iv.  76,  10 
Boeckli,  Staalsh.  i.  .390. 

*  According  to  the  description,  a  little  obscure,  of  Polybius 
corvus,  and  which  worked  all  round,  was  used  at  the  prow,  stern 

'  Reverse  of  a  sextans  of  bronze  of  the  town  of  Tuiler. 

^  There  was  less  than  this  number  at  Ecnonius  (Tolyb.,  i.  .'J).  Others  give  200  as  the 
number  of  soldiers  Duillius  put  on  board  each  ship. 

VOL.  I.  36 


this  brid'ic,  which  iva 
or  at  the  sides. 


1.     (^f. 
called 


562. 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FEOM   264   TO   201. 


fleet  advancing,  tliey  came  on  as  if  to  certain  victory.  Thirty 
ships,  which  formed  tlie  vanguard,  reached  it  first.  Seized  by  the 
grapples,  not  one  escaped.  Tlie  admiral's  galley,  with  seven  rows 
of  oars,  was  itself  taken,  and  Hannibal,  the  former  defender  of 
Agrigentum,  who  was  on  board,  had  but  time  to  escape  in  a  boat. 
He  directed,  however,  his  other  galleys  to  the  llaidv  and  astern  of  the 
Roman  vessels.  But,  despite  the  rapidity  of  their  evolutions,  the 
formidable  grapple  was  always  ready  for  them.  Twenty  galleys 
more  were  taken ;  three  thousand  men  were  killed,  and  six  thousand 


ROMAN    GALLEY.       (CAST    FEOM    MUSEUM    OF    K.    GERMAIN.) 

made  prisoners ;  the  rest  fled  in  terror.  Tlie  land  army  raised  in 
all  haste  the  siege  of  Segesta ;  the  troops  which  were  defending 
Macella  allowed  the  place  to  be  taken  by  storm ;  and  the  Cartha- 
ginian general,  having  retired  to  Sardinia  with  .some  troops,  was 
crucified  there  by  the  mutinous  mercenaries. 

These  successes  were  the  material  result  of  the  victory ;  but 
there  Avas  a  greater.  The  prestige  of  the  maritime  superiority 
of  Carthage  was  dispelled ;  and  whatever  disasters  befell  the 
Roman  fleets  in  the  future  did  not  cause  the  Senate  to  give 
up  the  sea.  They  knew  now  that  Carthage  could  be  conquered; 
and    the    late    events    made    them    understand    that    the    conquest 


THE   FIRST   PUNIG    WAR    FJIOM   2G1   TO   241. 


563 


of  islands  must  be  accoinplisliod  by  sea  Already  they  were 
directing  a  fleet  against  Sardinia, 
and  an  attack  on  Africa  was  in  con- 
templation. Very  unusual  honors 
were  given  to  Duillius.  Besides 
the  triumph,  lie  had  a  column 
in  the  Forum,  and  the  right  of 
being  escorted  home  in  the  even- 
ing by  torchlight  and  the  sound 
of  flutes.  The  simplicity  of  this 
time  knew  no  better  way  of 
honoring  the  first  conqueror  of 
Carthage.' 

After  the  victory  of  Mylae,  the 
Romans  had  divided  their  forces ; 
while  the  land  army  succored 
Segesta,  the  consul,  L.  Corn.  Scipio, 
with  a  part  of  the  fleet,  pursued 
as  far  as  Sardinia  the  vessels 
which  had  escaped  at  the  first 
disaster,  destroyed  them,  and  com- 
menced the  conquest  of  that  island 
and  of  Corsica,  of  which  he  took 
the  capital,  Aleria.  Caught,  on  his 
return,  in  a  stormy  sea,  he  dedi- 
cated a  temple  to  the  tempests,  and 
desired  that  on  his  tomb  there  might  be  preserved  the  twofold 
remembrance  of  his  conquest  and  of  the  protection  with  which  these 
peculiar  divinities  had  sheltered  him : 

"  Hie  cepit  Corsicam  Aleriamque  urbem 
Dedit  Tempestatibus  aedem  merito." 

Carthage    then   sent    to    Panormus    a   great    general,   Amilcar.     By 
skilful     manoeuvres   he    enclosed    the    legions    in    a    defile,    whence 


^^':fir^5<5^-^^ 


ROSTKAL    COLUMN    OF    DUILLIUS.^ 


1  riorus,  Fl.  2,  and  Val.  Maximus  speak  of  these  honors  bestowed  on  himself  by  Duillius. 
The  inscription  of  his  rostral  column  would  be  one  of  the  oldest  monuments  of  the  Latin 
language,  if  the  text  which  we  have  had  not  been  repaired  towards  the  middle  of  the  first 
century  of  our  era,  when  the  monument  was  restored. 

-  Kestoration  of  Canina,  vol.  iv.  p.  264.  This  monument  of  one  of  the  greatest  victories 
of  Rome  is  actually  disgraced  by  a  street-lamp  I 


564.  THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 

they  were  only  able  to  escape  through  the  devotion  of  Cal- 
purnius  Flamma.  He  was  a  legionary  tribune,  who  offered  to 
occupy,  with  four  hundred  men,  a  hill,  from  whence  he  could 
cover  the  retreat  and  stop  the  enemy.  '*  I  give  my  life  to  thee 
and  to  the  Republic,"  said  he  to  the  consul.  All  fell  except  the 
tribune,  who  was  found  alive  under  a  heap  of  corpses.  He 
received  a  crown  of  grass.  "■  At  that  time,"  says  Pliny,  "  it  was 
the  highest  reward."  ^  Cato  compares  him  to  Leonidas,  and  com- 
plains of  the  cajarice  of  fortune  Avhich  has  left  his  name  in 
obscurity.  He  forgot  that  it  is  tlie  end  for  which  we  die  which 
gives  immortality  to  the  victim.  Calpurnius,  like  so  many  soldiers 
in  our  annals,  saved  only  one  legion  (258) ;  Leonidas  had  saved 
his  country,  the  whole  of  Greece,  and  the  civilization  of  the  world. 
Notwithstanding,    the    war   languished ;    Amilcar   destroyed   the 

town  of  Eryx,  of  wliich  he  left  stand- 
ing only  the  temple,  built,  it  was  said, 
in  honor  of  his  divine  mother,  Venus 
Ervcina,  whom  the  Phoenicians  con- 
founded with  their  goddess  Astarte.     He 

VENUS    ERYCINA.^  .      i  l  t        •  t^ 

carried  the  population  to  Drepaniim, 
and  concentrated  his  forces  in  that  town  and  in  Lilyl^aeum, 
two  impregnaljle  places,  the  approaches  to  which  were  protected 
by  the  sea  and  by  several  cities  which  the  Carthaginians  still 
occupied  on  the  coasts  and  in  the  interior. 

The  fortune  of  Rome  seemed  declining,  and  some  dangerous 
defections  resulted.  In  the  centre  of  the  island,  Enna,  the  sacred 
town  whose  civic  divinity,  Ceres,  was  honored  throughout  Sicily,  on 
the  southern  coast  the  great  city  of  Camarina,  and  even  Agrigentum, 
came  round  to  the  Carthaginians.  If  the  legions  had  returned  to 
Rome  at  the  end  of  the  summer,  according  to  custom,  and  had 
not  wintered  in  the  island,  all  would  have  been  lost.  But  the 
consul  of  258  retook  the  lost  places,  putting  to  death  the  prin- 
cipal citizens,  and  selling   the  rest.      It  was  the  custom,  and  was 

1  riiny,  Hist.  Nat.  xxii.  1 1  ;  Aul.  Gell.  (iii.  7)  calls  him  Caecitliiis,  others  Laberius. 

^  On  the  obverse,  Venus  Ervcina,  diademed,  and  crowned  with  myrtle  or  laurel,  and  the 
inscription,  C.  CONSIDI.  NONIANI.  S.  C.  On  the  reverse,  ERVC,  and  the  temiile  of 
Venus.  Silver  money  of  the  family  Considia.  The  coin  represents  the  temple  at  the  summit 
of  the  hill  with  the  deep  enclosure  wliich  surrounded  it,  and  which  the  artist,  to  render  his 
drawing  lighter,  has  represented  as  open  work. 


THE   FIKST   rUNIC    WAll    FllOM   2(1 1    TO    L'U. 


565 


prac^tisod  on  both  sides.  Among  the  ancients,  when  the  city  fell, 
tlie  individuals  perished.  Fortune  destroyed,  family  lo.st,  no  home, 
no  household  gods ;  yesterday  enjoying  the  honors  of  the 
patriciate,  to-morrow  in  the  miseries  of  slavery :  such  was  the 
lot  of  the  conquered,  when  on 
the  day  of  defeat  they  had  not 
fallen  beneath  the  sword  of 
the  soldier  or  under  the  axe 
of  the  lictor.  By  way  of  com- 
pensation the  fierce  character 
of  war  gave  to  patriotism  an 
energy  long  since  passed  away. 

These  successes  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  island,  and  a 
fresh  naval  battle,  whii-h  the 
consul  Atilius  claimed  to  have 
gained  near  Lipari.  decided  the 
Senate  to  the  boldest  enterprise. 
Three  hundred  and  thirty  ves- 
sels were  equipped,  one  hundred 
thousand  seamen  and  soldiers, 
and  the  two  consuls,  Manlius 
Vulso  and  Atilius  Regulus, 
embarked  with  the  determina- 
tion of  passing  through  the 
Carthaginian  fleet  and  making 
an  attack  on  Africa. 

The  two  fleets  met  off  Ecnomus.^     It  was  the  greatest  spectacle 

'  Statuette  found  in  Phoenicia  (cf.  Acad,  des  Sciences  de  Sainl-Pclershourg,  7th  series, 
vol.  xix.  No.  4,  p.  1,  fig.  "i),  and  which  does  not  give  a  very  great  superiority  to  the  artists  of 
tlie  metropoh.s  over  those  of  Carthage.  "  The  goddess  is  standing  in  full  dress ;  on  the 
forehead  a  rich  fillet.  The  hair  falls  in  many  tresses  behind  and  on  each  side,  on  the  neck 
two  symbolical  necklaces ;  a  circle  shut  by  a  square  bezel,  and  a  triple  row  of  pearls.  The 
bare  forearm  is  ornamented  up  to  the  wrists  with  open  bracelets,  closing  by  a  clasp,  the 
two  ends  of  wliich  are  decorated  with  heads  of  antelopes.  An  upper  dress,  made  of  a  supple 
and  fine  material,  ojiens  in  front,  forming  on  each  side  symmetrical  little  folds.  Sleeves  with 
clasps  co\er  the  top  of  the  arm.  The  robe,  falling  from  the  neck  to  tlie  feet,  covers  the  heels, 
and  is  provided  with  a  train  which  the  left  hand  holds,  and  brings  to  the  front.  The  bare  feet 
have  sandals  with  straps.  The  whole  of  this  dress  is  heavy,  and  seems  strange.  The  goddess 
thus  resembles  the  squaw  of  a  Redskin."  (Georges  Colonna  C'eccaldi,  Revue  archeol.  de  Janvier. 
1878,  p.  10,  note  1.) 

-  A  mountain  between  Gcla  and  Agrigentum. 


ASTARTE.l 


566  .  THE   PUNIC   WAES  FROM   264   TO   201. 

tlie  Mecliterraneaii  had  yet  seen  ;  t.liree  hundred  thousand  men  were 
about  to  fight  on  its  waves.  The  Roman  vessels,  formed  into  a  hollow 
triangle,  with  double  base,  and  its  point  directefi  towards  the  enemy's 
line,  advanced  steadily,  and  the  Carthaginians,  despite  a  clever 
manoeuvre  to  draw  off  the  van  of  the  hostile  fleet  and  separate  it 
from  its  powerful  rear-guard,  lost  ninety-four  ships  out  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty ;  twenty -four  Roman  galleys  only  were  sunk  (256). 
The  remains  of  the  conquered  army  fled  to  Carthage.  Some 
vessels  were  equipped  there  in  all  haste,  and  troops  raised  to 
guard  the  coast.  But  the  greatest  confusion  still  reigned  in  the 
town  Avhen  it  was  learnt  that  the  Romans,  having  disembarked 
near  the  promontory  of  Mercury  (Cape  Bon),  were  already  be- 
sieging Clypea.  Regulus  had  only  taken  sufficient  time  to  repair 
his  disabled  ships  and  to  get  provisions.  The  troops  began  to 
be  afraid  of  a  war  in  Africa,  —  that  land  of  mon- 
sters, whence  such  terrible  tales  reached  them, 
Africa  2^orte7itosa  ;^  even  a  tribune  had  dared  to 
murmiu'.  Regulus  threatened  him  with  the  axe, 
and  the  army,  despite  its  superstitious  fears,  set 
out.  Clypea  having  been  taken,  and  no  position, 
no  army,  protecting  the  country,  the  Romans  spread 
over  these  rich  plains,  which,  since  Agathocles, 
had  not  seen  an  enemy,  and  whose  fertility  was  secured  by  a 
good  system  of  irrigation.  In  a  few  days  they  took  twenty 
thousand   prisoners    and    immense    booty. 

The  Senate,  deceived  by  its  first  successes,  recalled  Manlius 
and  his  legions ;  it  was  a  mistake.  Regulus  himself,  it  was  said, 
had  requested  to  return,  because  the  farmer  whom  he  had  left  to 
cultivate  a  field  of  seven  acres,  his  sole  patrimony,  had  run  away 
and  taken  the  plough  and  oxen.  The  Senate  replied  that  all  should 
be  re-purchased  for  him,  his  field  cultivated,  and  his  wife  and 
children  kept  at  the  expense  of  the  treasury.  He  remained  in 
Africa  with  fifteen  thousand  men  and  five  hundred  horses.  These 
forces  were  sufficient  for  him  to  defeat  the  enemy  on  all  sides,  to 

1  Livy,  xxxiv.  G2.  Such  is  the  suspicious  history  of  the  serpent  of  Bagradas,  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty  feet  long,  and  whose  head,  sent  to  Kome,  was  still  shown  there  in  the  time 
of  the  Numautian  war.  (Cf.  Flor.,  ii.  2.)  Polybius  does  not  mention  it.  However,  such  large 
serpents  now  exist  in  the  highlands  of  Algeria,  that  it  may  only  have  been  an  exaggerated 
fact. 


THE   FIRST   PUNIC    WAR    FROM   264   TO   241.  567 

,  take  three  hundred  towns,  and  seize  Tunis,  three  leagues  from 
'  Carthage,  after  a  victory  near  Adys  which  cost  the  Cartliaginians 
seventeen  thousand  kiHed,  five  liundrcd  prisoners,  and  eigliteen 
elephants.  The  town  was  hard  pressed.  From  the  amount  of 
tribute  imposed  on  Leptis  Parva,  —  a  talent  a  day,  —  we  can  under- 
stand that  the  yoke  of  Carthage  was  heavy.  In  consequence 
of  these  defeats  the  subjects  revolted,  and  the  Numidians  plun- 
dered that  which  had  escaped  the  Romans.  A  treaty  was  proposed. 
Regulus  demanded  the  abandonment  of  Sicily  and  Sardinia,  an  an- 
nual tribute,  the  giving  up  of  the  Roman  prisoners,  the  ransom 
of  the  Carthaginian  captives,  the  destruction  of  the  whole  fleet 
of  war,  the  promise  to  make  neither  alliance  nor  war  without  the 
consent  of  the  Senate,  etc. 

Such  conditions  offered  no  inducement  for  treating ;  the  war 
was  resumed.^  The  fanaticism  of  the  people  was  excited  by  human 
sacrifices,  and  vessels  laden  with  gold  went  to  Greece  and  Spain 
to  buy  soldiers.  Among  the  mercenaries  who  came  from  Greece 
was  the  Lacedaemonian  Xanthippus.  Carthage  had  still  twelve 
thousand  infantry,'-  four  thousand  horse,  and  one  hundred  ele- 
phants. The  Lacedaemonian  undertook,  with  this  army,  which 
he  carefully  drilled  for  some  weeks,  to  fight  the  enemy.  "  The 
question  is  only,"  said  he,  "  to  find  a  field  of  battle  which  may 
suit  us."  Instead  of  pitching  his  camp  on  the  heights,  where 
the  elephants  and  cavalry  were  useless,  he  descended  into  the 
plain ;  and  the  legions,  disordered  by  the  elephants,  and  charged 
by  a  numerous  cavalry,  fell  into  confusion.  Two  thousand  only 
escaped  by  reaching  Clypea  ;  Regulus  and  five  hundred  of  the 
bravest  were  made  prisoners ;  the  rest  perished.  Xanthippus, 
richly  rewarded,  left  the  town  before  gratitude  had  given  place  to 
envy.^ 

1  [This  whole  campaign  sliows  the  extraordinary  helplessness  of  Carthatrc,  owinc;  to  the 
counter-suspicions  of  its  oligarchical  factions,  and  the  gross  incompetence  of  Regulus,  who,  if 
he  had  used  the  Xumidian  cavalry,  ought  to  have  carried  the  day.  Amilcar  had  been  recalled 
from  Sicil}-,  but  was  only  joint  commander  with  two  others.  Surely  such  a  general  was  as  well 
able  to  defeat  Regulus  as  a  Greek  mercenary.  So  the  demands  of  Regulus,  who  had  no  sien-c- 
train,  were  as  severe  as  those  demanded  by  Scipio  at  the  end  of  the  Second  Punic  War.  Noth- 
ing is  stranger  than  that  such  a  man  should  have  been  exalted  into  a  national  hero.  —  Ed.'] 
^  [These  numbers  are  probably  lessened,  to  increase  the  glory  of  Xanthippus.  —  EiLl 
^  The  Carthaginians  have  been  accused  of  having  drowned  him  (Zonaras,  viii.  13  ;  Silius 
Ital.,  vi.  682)  ;  but  they  had  no  interest  in  this  crime,  contradicted  elsewhere  bv  Polybius. 


568 


THE   PUNIC   WARS    FROM   264   TO  201. 


Carthage  was  saved.  However,  the  victorious  army  was 
repulsed  at  the  siege  of  Clypea,  and  a  Carthaginian  fleet  was  again 
beaten  in  sight  of  this  place.  But  the  destruction  of  the  whole 
of  an  army,  the  capture  of  a  consul,  and  the  dilhculty  of  crossing 
mcessantly  a  stormy  sea,  in  order  to  re-victual  the  legions  of 
Clypea,  decided  the  Senate  to  relinquish  Africa.  At  the  same 
time  a  frightful  disaster  closed  the  way.     Two  hundred  and  seventy 


FRIEZE    OF    SELIXUS,  TAKEN    FKOM    rllOTOGRAPlIS,    DATING    AliOUT    Hill    IJ.  C. 

(see    pp.    570-572.) 

galleys  were  shattered  by  a  tempest  along  the  coasts  of  Camarina ; 
it  was  nearly  the  whole  fleet.  The  Carthaginians  hastened  to  put 
down  their  rebel  subjects ;  the  chiefs  were  crucified ;  the  towns 
gave  1,000  talents  and  twenty  thousand  oxen ;  then  the  prepara- 
tions were  pushed  forward  with  vigor  for  carrying  the  war  again 
into  Sicily  (255). 


IV.   The  War  is  carried  back  into  Sicily  (254-241). 

A  NEW  fleet,  a  new  army,  and  one  hundred  and  forty  elephants 
set  out  from  Carthage.  Agrigentum  was  re-taken.  On  her  side, 
Rome,  in  three  months,  built  two  hundred  and  twenty  galleys, 
and  the  consuls,  proceeding  along  the  northern  coast  of  Sicily, 
took  by  treachery  the  strong  position  of  Cephaloedium,'  and  that 
of  Panormus,  which  gave  them  an  excellent  port.  Those  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Panormus  who  were  unable  to  pay  a  ransom  of 
two  silver  minae  (200  drachmas,  or  nearly  eight  guineas)  were  sold 
as  slaves.     There  were  thirteen  thousand  of  them. 

The  following  j'ear  the  fleet  ravaged  the  coast  of   Africa  ;   but 

'  It  was  built  on  a  .steep  promontory,  whence  its  Greek  name  signifying  head  ;  it  is  now 
Cefalu. 


THE   FIRST   rUNIC   WAR   FROM  264   TO   I'll. 


569 


a  tempest  on  its  return  again  destroyed  one  hundred  and  lifty 
vessels  near  Cape  Palinurus,  on  the  coast  of  Lucania  (253).  These 
repeated  disasters  seemed  a  menace  of  the  gods ;  tlie  Senate  gave 
up  tlie  sea,  as  it  had  given   u})  Africa. 

The  two  adversaries,  wearied  out  by  the  struggle,  which  had 
already  lasted  eleven  years,  rested  on  their  arms  :  the  Carthaginians, 
in  a  strong  position,  which  they  occupied  at  the  western  extremity 
of  Sicily  ;  the  legions,  at  some  distance  in  the  rear,  on  the  heights, 
from  which  they  watched  the  enemy.  This  inaction  became  detri- 
mental to  the  Roman  discipline.  It  was  necessary  at  one  time  to 
degrade  four  hundred  equites,  who  had  refused  to  obey  the  con.sul , 
at  another  time  to  make  a  military  tribune  of  the  illustrious  house 
of  Valerius  run  the  gauntlet.^  Car- 
thage, on  her  side,  occupied  without 
doubt  in  reconstituting  in  Africa  her 
rule,  which  the  Roman  invasion  had 
shattered,  confined  herself  in  Sicily 
to  a  prudent  defensive.  She  even 
made  no  effort  in  252  to  prevent  Scipio,  who  was  conquered  in 
the  first  naval  action,  from  taking  his  revenge  at  Lipari,  bj'  seiz- 
ing upon  this  island  with  the  ships  lent  by  the  faithful  Hiero. 
The  IjIow  was  a  severe  one,  for  from  Lipari  her  privateers  inces- 
santly came  forth,  ravaging  the  Italian  coasts.  Accordingly,  tlie 
year  after,  Carthage  made  a  vigorous  effort.  Hasdru- 
bal,  with  two  hundred  vessels,  carrying  thirty  thoiisand 
men  and  one  hundred  and  forty  elephants,  attempted 
to  retake  Panormus.  The  pro-consul,  Metellus,  kept 
his  army  shut  up  there ;  but,  by  means  of  his  light 
troops,  he  challenged  the  enemy,  and  drew  them  to 
the  foot  of  the  wall;  and  whUe  the  elephants,  pierced  of  metellus.3 
with  darts,  rushed  furiously  back  on  the  Carthaginian  army,  which 
they   threw    into    disorder,    Metellus   attacked    with  all   his    forces. 


COIN    OF    CEPIIALOF.DIU.M.- 


COIX    COMMEM- 
ORATIVE OF 
THE    VICTORY 


1  Val.  Max.,  11.  ix.  7  ;  Front.  Strat.,  iv.  The  knirchts  were  (Icjraded  to  the  rank  of  acrarii. 
In  252,  Aurelius  Pecuniola  having,  in  the  absence  of  the  consnl,  Cotta,  his  cousin,  permitted 
the  burning  of  a  redoubt,  and  almost  lost  his  camp  before  Lipari,  Cotta  had  him  flogged,  and 
reduced  him  to  the  rank  of  a  common  soldier.     (Val.  Max.,  11.  vii.  4.) 

^  Head  of  Jupiter,  crowned  with  laurel ;  on  the  reverse,  KE*A.  Goatskin,  club,  and  quiver. 
Bronze  money. 

^  METELLUS  in  a  car  drawn  by  elepliants,  and  crowned  by  \'ictory.  The  reverse  of  a 
piece  of  silver  money  of  the  Caecilian  family. 


570 


THE   PUNIC    WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 


METOPE    FROM    THE    LATEST    TEMPLE    AT    SELINIIS.^ 


Twenty  thousand  Africans  perished  ;  one  hundred  and  four  elephants 

were  taken  ;  they  were 
conducted  to  Rome,  where 
they  followed  the  car  of 
the  conqueror;  and  as  it 
was  found  too  expensive 
to  keep  them,  they  were 
hunted  down  in  the  great 
circus,  that  the  people  by 
familiarity  miglit  cease  to 
dread  them  (251). 

On  his  return  to  Car- 
thage, the  incapable  Has- 
drubal  was  crucified.  At 
Rome  Metelhis  received 
ereat  honor.  He  was  twice 
made  consul,  dictator,  sov- 
ereign pontiff;  and  when,  in 
a  fire  in  tlie  temple  of  Vesta, 
he  lost  his  eyes  in  saving  the  Palladium,  the  people  gave  him  the 
right,  which  none  had  up  to  this  time  obtained,  of  going  in  his 
car  to  the  Senate.  In  the  funeral  oration  which  tlie  son  of  the 
conqueror  of  Panonuus  delivered  in  honor  of  his  father,  we  can 
see  what  a  Roman  of  this  time  esteemed  as  the  sovereign  good. 
"  He  attained,"  he  said,  "  and  in  perfection,  ten  very  great  things, 
which  the  wise  pass  their  life  in  seeking.  He  wished  to  be 
the  best  soldier,  the  first  of  orators,  the  ablest  of  generals,  the 
most  eminent  of  senators,  and  he  desired  to  conduct  under  his 
auspices  the  gravest  affairs,  to  attain  to  the  highest  magistracies, 
to  supreme  political  wisdom,  and  a  great  fortune  acquired  by  honor- 
able means,  and  finally  to  leave  behind  him  many  children,  and  to 
be  the  most  respected  of  all  his  fellow-citizens."  ^  This  is  the  ideal 
of  Roman  virtue.  It  is  not  a  very  elevated  one ;  but  if  it  did  not 
make  sages  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  it  made  great  citizens. 

Many    noljle    Carthaginians    had    l^een    made    prisoners    before 
Panormus ;    others  had   long  been  so.     The    Carthaginians,   we  are 

^  It  represents  Heracles  fighting  an  Amazon.     The  setting  of  the  extant  sculptures  is  the 
restoration  in  the  Museum  at  Palermo.  ; 

-  Pliny,  Nal.  Hist.  vii.  45. 


THE   FIRST   I'UNIC    WAR   FROM   204   TO   241. 


571 


COIN    OP    PAXOUMUS.^ 


told,  proposed  an  exchange,  and  sent   Kegulus  to  Rome  to  '^npport 

their   demand.       That   general    had   no1»ly 

l)C)rne    lii.s    captivity.      He    was    unwilling 

to    enter   the    city :    "  I    am    no    longer   a 

citizen,"   said  he,  as    Postumius    had    said 

after   the   Caudine    Forks ;    and    w  hen    he 

spoke  on  the  proposal,    he    dissuaded    the 

senators  from  accepting  it.     They  tried  to  move  him  to  have  pity 

on  himself :  "  My  days  are  numbered,"  said  he  ;  '■  they  have  given 

me  a  slow  poison  ; "    and  he   set  out  on   his  return,   repelling  the 

embraces  of  his  wife,  Marcia,  and  his  children. 

Horace  has  celebrated  this  nythical  story,  so  dear  to  Roman  pride : 

"  Then,  it  is  said,  he         .         .         . 

bent  to  earth 

••  In  stern  humility  his  manly  face, 
Till  his  inflexible  persistence  fixed 
The  Senate's  wavering  will : 

And  forth,  bewept,  the  glorious  exile  jDassed. 

"  Albeit  he  knew  what  the  barbarian  skill 
Of  the  tormentor  for  himself  prepared, 
He  motioned  from  his  path 
The  opposing  kindred,  the  retarding  crowd, 

"Calmly  as  if  —  some  client's  tedious  suit 
Closed  by  his  judgment  —  to  Venaf rian  plains 
Or  mild  Tarentum,  built 

By  antique  Spartans,  went  his  pleasant  way."  '^ 

On  his  return  to  Carthage  he  died,  it  is 
affirmed,  a  cruel  death.^  If  this  tradition  be 
true,  in  spite  of  the  silence  of  Poly  bins,  wef 
must  not  forget  either  the  treatment  inflicted 
by  the  Romans  themselves  on  hostile  chiefs 
who  fell  into  their  power,  or  that  other  tra- 
dition, according  to  which  two  Carthaginian  generals  were  given  up 
to  Marcia,  and  by  her  cruelly  tortured.^ 

1  Double  head  under  a  horse.     On  the  reverse,  n.\NOPMI  .  .  .  and  an  eagle.     Bronze 

coin  of  Palermo  (Panormus). 

-  Car7n.  III.  v.  [Lord  Lytton's  ^Metrical  Translation  of  Horace.] 

5  Resectis  palpchr'is,  illigatum  in  machina,  viffilaiulo,  necaverunt.     (Cie.,  in  Pison.  18.) 

*  Parsley-leaf.     On  the   reverse,  a  square   hollowed    in   compartments.     Silvei-    coin    of 

Selinus ;   very  ancient. 

^  Diod.,  Fragm.  de  Virt.  et  Vit.  x.xiv.  ;  Aulus  Gell,  vii.  4  ;  Zonaras,  viii.  15,  etc. 


COIN    OF    SELINOXTIM.'' 


572. 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   2G4   TO   201. 


Polybius  reproaches  Regulus  with  not  having  known  how  to 
guard  himself  against  the  inconstancy  of  fortune,  with  having 
imposed  too  severe  conditions,  etc.  No  doubt  he  would  have  been 
wiser  to  restrain  himself  within  bounds ;  but  what  general  would 
have  acted  otherwise  ?     It  was  by  aiming  at  a  very  lofty  ideal,  often 

even  above  their  powers,  that 
the  Romans  did  such  great 
things.  A  nation  does  not 
become  great  by  merely  being 
always  a  nation  of  wise  men. 

The  victory  of  Panormus 
put  an  end  to  the  great  battles. 
The  Carthaginians  once  more 
fell  back  to  the  western  ex- 
tremity of  the  island,  to  Dro- 
panum  and  Lilybaeum,  whither 
they  transported  all  the  in- 
habitants of  Selinus,  after 
having  destroyed  their  town. 
Lilybaeum,  surrounded  on  two 
sides  by  a  sea  rendered  dan- 
gerous, even  to  the  most  skilful  2)ilots,  by  sand-banks,  reefs  just 
beneath  the  surface,  and  rapid  currents,  was  shut  in  on  the 
land  side  by  a  high  wall,  and  defended  by  a  very  wide  and 
deep  ditch.  In  the  autumn  of  the  year  250  two  consuls,  four 
legions,  and  two  hundred  ships  of  war  blockaded  the  place, 
and  a  new  siege  of  Troy  began.  The  Romans  at  first  tried  to 
close  the  entry  to  the  port  by  sinking  fifteen  vessels  loaded  with 
stones  there ;  but  the  current  swept  them  all  away.  The  passage 
remained  open,  and  fifty  vessels,  bearing  provisions  and  ten 
thousand  soldiers  to  Lilybaeum,  were  able  to  pass  through  it 
under  the  veiy  eyes  of  the  powerless  Roman  fleet.  On  the  land 
side  the  Romans  in  several  places  filled  up  the  ditch  and  mined 
the  walls ;  but  when  their  battering-rams  had  made  a  breach,  they 
found  themselves  faced  by  another  wall  which  Himilco  had  raised. 
Some  mercenaries  plotted  the  surrender  of  the  town ;  Himilco 
discovered  the  conspiracy,  and  burned  the  engines  of  the  Romans  in 
a  sortie,  thus  ol)liging  them  to   change  the  siege  into  a  blockade. 


ZEUS    AND    HERE    (SEE    P.    .OGS). 


THE   FIRST   PUNIC   WAR   FROM   2G4   TO   241. 


573 


When  the  new  consul,  P.  Claudius,  son  of  Appius  the  censor, 
came  to  take  the  command,  sickness  had  already  carried  off  many 
of  the  soldiers.  The  Carthaginian  fleet  was  stationed  in  the  neigh- 
boring port  of  Drepanum.  Claudius  wished  to  fall  upon  it  by 
surprise.  The  omens  were  sinister;  the  sacred  chickens  refused  to 
eat.      '•Well,  let  them   drink,  then,"   said  the  consul,  and  he  had 


REMAINS    OF    SELINUS. 


them  thrown  into  the  sea.  The  army  was  beaten  beforehand  by 
this  impious  act,  which  Claudius  could  not  repair  by  the  cleverest 
manoeuvres :  ^  ninety-three  vessels  taken  or  sunk,  eight  thousand 
men  killed,  and  twenty  thousand  prisoners,  —  such  were  the  results 
of  the  battle  of  Drepanum  (249).  Junius  Pullus,  the  colleague 
of  Claudius,  had  no  better  fortune.  He  was  at  Syracuse  with 
eight  hundred  merchant  vessels  destined  for  the  revictualling  of 
the   camp   at    Lilybaeum.      Carthalo,   who   watched   his    departure 

^  Polvbius  knows  nothing  of  this  storv  of  the  sacred  eliickens,  but  Cicero  relates  it. 


574. 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FEOM   2G4   TO   201. 


from  the  coast  of  Agrigentum,  first  intercepted  several  convoys, 
and  tlien  by  a  clever  manoeuvre  drove  tlie  whole  of  Junius's  fleet 
into  the  midst  of  the  reefs  of  Camarina,  where  furious  winds  broke 
it  up,  while  he  himself,  running  before  the  storm,  went  and  shel- 
tered his  vessels  behind  Cape  Pachynum.  All  the  transj)orts  and 
a  hundred  and  five  galleys  had  been  destroyed.  The  occupation  of 
the  high  hill  near  Drepanum,  on  which  stood  the  fortified  temple 
of  Venus  Erycina,  was  not  compensation  for  so  many  sad  losses. 
Tlie  disaster  of    the  year  249.   the  saddest   in  all  the  war  for 

Rome,  compelled  the  Senate 
again  to  renounce  the  idea  of 
fleets.  Claudius  was  recalled, 
and  obliged  to  name  a  dictator. 
He  chose  the  son  of  a  freed- 
man,  named  Claudius  Glicia,  his 
client  and  clerk.  The  Senate 
annul k'd  the  insulting  choice, 
and  a  sentence  passed  by  the 
people  severely  punished  this 
1)old  contemner  of  things 
human  aiid  divine.  Junius, 
accused,  like  his  colleague,  of 
having  despised  the  auspices, 
killed  himself  before  bis  con- 
demnation ;  Claudius  had,  per- 
haps, set  him  the  example  of  a  voluntary  death.  Three  years 
laterwards  another  sentence  struck  the  haughty  race.  The  sister 
of  Claudius,  finding  herself  one  day  pressed  by  the  crowd,  cried, 
"  Would  it  might  please  the  gods  that  my  brother  should  still 
command  the  armies  of  the  Republic. !  "  The  aediles  punished  this 
homicidal  wish  with  a  fine. 

By  a  singular  fatality,  at  the  time  when  Rome  could  no  longer 
find  any  but  incapable  leaders,  Carthage  placed  able  generals  at 
the  head  of  her  forces,  —  Himilco,  the  defender  of  Lilybaeum  ; 
Hannibal,  who  had  so  successfully  revictualled  that  place  ;  Adher- 
bal,  the  conqueror  of  Drepanum  ;    Carthalo,  who,  before  destroying 

'  [This  very  archaic  sculpture  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  remains  of  nascent  Greek  art, 
and  dates  from  the  7th  century  B.  c.    It  represents  Heracles  carrying  off  the  Kerkopes.  —  £(/.] 


METOPE    OF    TEMPLE    AT    SELINUS    (NOW    AT 
PALERMO).' 


THE   FIRST   PUNIC   WAR   FKOM  2(M   TO   241. 


575 


COIN    OF    EUCTE.l 


Junius'  fleet,  had  burned  a  part  of  that  before  Lilybaenm  and  ravaged 
the  coasts  of  Italy  ;  and.  finally, 
the  greatest  of  all,  x\niilcar, 
father  of  Hannibal,  surnamed 
Lightning,  Barca.  Unfortu- 
nately, discipline  was  often 
wanting  in  these  armies  of 
Carthage,  and  a  violent  se- 
dition of  the  mercenaries  had  just  brought  her  into  the  greatest 
peril.  Amilcar  found  means  to  satisfy  their  requirements.  He 
led  them  to  the  pillage  of  Italy.  When  the  booty  gained 
Bruttium  had  won  him  their  con- 
fidence, he  boldly  advanced  and 
took  possession  of  Mount  Ercte 
(Monte  Pellegrino),  near  Panormus 


m 


(24 


•7\  2 


For    six    years    all    the 


COIN    or    TAUROMEXIUM 


strength  of  the  two  repul)lics 
was  concentrated  in  this  corner 
of  Sicily ;  the  Romans  were  at  Panormus,  on  the  summit  of  Mount 
Eryx,*  in  the  ancient  town  of  that  name,  and  before  Lilybaeum 
and  Drepanum.  The  Carthaginians  occupied  these  two  places  and 
Mount  Ercte.  From  the  top  of  this  almost  inaccessible  mountain 
Amilcar  watched  all  the  enemy's  movements,  and  swept  quickly 
down  from  it  to  intercept  his  convoys,  cut  up  his  detachments, 
and  carry  his  ravages  to  the  very  heart  of  the  island  ;  or,  again, 
from  the  port  at  the  foot  of  his  mountain  he  set  sail  with  a  fleet 
of  light  vessels  and  ravaged  the  Italian  coast  as  far  as  the  middle 


'  Bust  of  a  woman.  On  the  reverse,  a  lion  before  a  palm-tree.  Below,  a  Punic  legend 
signifying  "  of  the  people  of  the  camp."  This  was  a  coin  struck  for  the  pay  of  the  troops, 
iimncla  castrensis.  It  was  struck  in  Sicily,  but  engraved  by  an  artist  who  did  not  know  Punic, 
for  the  inscription  is  written  the  wrong  way.  M.  de  Saulcy,  who  has  kindly  furnished  me 
with  this  note,  does  not  believe  that  this  silver  tetradrachm,  attributed  to  Ercte  by  the  Due  de 
Luynes,  belonged  to  that  town,  or,  at  least,  it  was  not  struck  there  during  Amilcar's  occupation. 

^  Mount  Ercte,  the  foot  of  which  is  washed  by  the  sea,  is  protected  on  its  flanks  by  sharp 
rocks,  and  separated  from  the  mountains  which  run  west  of  Panormus  by  a  broad  plain,  so  that 
it  forms  a  vast  natural  fortress,  rising  above  the  town  to  a  height  of  2,000  feet. 

*  Laurel-crowned  head  of  Apollo.  On  the  reverse,  TAYPOMENITAN,  and  a  serpent  round 
a  vase,  called  cortina.     Silver  coin. 

*  Mount  Eryx,  at  6  miles  from  Drepanum,  is  only  2,180  feet  high,  but  its  isolated  situation 
makes  it  appear  much  loftier.  It  was  a  still  stronger  position  than  Slount  Ercte.  On  the 
summit  of  the  mountain  was  the  tem]ile  of  Venus  Erycina.     The  town  was  built  half  way  up. 


576.  THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM  264   TO   201. 

of  Campania.^  For  six  years  there  were  continual  and  bloody 
fights.  They  were  like  two  athletes  of  equal  strength  wrestling 
on  a  rock  high  above  the  waves.^ 

The  armies  were  but  a  few  stadia  aj^art ;  they  drew  still  nearer. 
Amilcar  took  the  town  of  Eryx  by  surprise,  and  placed  himself 
between    the   two    Roman   camps    established   at    the    base    and    on 


REMAINS    OK    THE    TOWM    OF    EUYX.'^ 

the  summit  of  the  mountain.  The  war  advanced  none  the  quicker; 
an  equal  tenacity  paralyzed  every  effort.  At  last  the  soldiers, 
weary  of  useless  conflicts,  and  each  side  esteeming  equally  the 
valor  of  the  other,  "plaited,"  says  Polybius,*  "the  sacred  crown," 
which  was  offered  to  the  gods  when  the  victory  remained  imde- 
cided,  and  abstained  by  common  accord  from  fighting. 

'  Tbese  cruises  obliged  the  Senate  to  found  several  maritime  colonies  at  Alsimu,  FregeUae, 
and  Brundusium. 

2  Polybius,  i.  5C,  57. 

2  Taken  from  Monum.  della  Sic'dia  of  Fr.  Cavallari,  parte  1',  tav.  26.  There  is  no  more 
mention  of  Eryx  in  Roman  history  after  its  destruction  by  Amilcar. 

*  Polybius,  i.  58. 


THE   FIRST   PUNIC   WAR   FEOM  264   TO   241. 


577 


Since  the  commencement  of  hostilities  the  Romans  had  lost 
many  more  galleys  than  the  Carthaginians.  But  for  Home,  a  con- 
tinental power,  vessels  were  but  so  much  wood  and  iron,  which 
were  easily  replaced  ;  whereas  for  Carthage,  a  maritime  and  com- 
mercial power,  they  were  strength  and  richfs.  The  one  then 
was  like  a  ship  struck  in  a  vital  part;  the  other  like  a  fortress,  of 
which  only  a  few  battlements  had  fallen.      Tliis  was   plainly  seen 


T^- 


Kj 


r  ^^'^^--^^w^Vj 


-  ^^        ir 


^,--.?vA.Atv  I 


VIEW  FROM  MOUNT  ERYX  (mONTE  SAN  GIULIANO).! 

when,  in  241,  the  Senate  decided  upon  a  fresh  effort.  In  order  to 
avoid  expenses  which  no  longer  appeared  necessary,  and  to  pass 
them  over  to  their  commercial  fleets,  the  merchants  of  Carthage 
had  disarmed  all  their  remaining  war  vessels ;  and  leaving  Amilcar 
alone  to  keep  in  check  from  his  mountain-top  all  the  forces  of 
Rome,  they  had  resumed  their  long  voyages,  their  business  rela- 
tions with  the  whole  world.  They  willingly  forgot  that  devastated 
island,    without    industry    or   commerce,    whence    there    came    only 


'  Taken  from  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale.     (See  p.  575,  n   4.) 

.S7 


578 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 


troublous  sounds  of  warfare  and  ceaseless  demands  for  money. 
The  sea  remained  free,  and  a  Roman  fleet  reappeared.  It  had 
been  necessary  to  make  an  appeal  to  the  devotion  of  the  citizens 
to  build  it.  The  treasury  was  empty ;  patriotism,  tliat  wealth 
which  excels  all  otiier,  replenished  it.  The  ricli  lent  money  to 
the  state,  or  built  vessels  at  their  own  expense.  Many  armed 
privateers.^  Two  hundred  vessels  were  once  more  launched.  Lu- 
tatius  took  the  command,  and  led  them  to  Drepanum.  It  was  near 
the  end  of  winter.  The  fleet,  which  for  economical  reasons  the 
Carthagmians    recalled    during  that   season,  had    not   yet  returned, 


GRKEK    T(lMB-l:i:i.IKFS    (NOW    IN   THE    MUSKTM    OF    rAI.Kl'.MO). 

so  that  Lutatius  had  no  difficulty  in  making  himself  master  of  the 
port,  and  closely  beleaguering  the  place.  Carthage  in  all  haste 
sent  ships  laden  with  provisions,  but  with  no  soldiers,  as  the 
admiral  was  to  take  on  board  Amilcar's  veterans.  In  order  to 
reach  Ercte  he  had  to  pass  before  Drepanum.  Lutatius  barred  the 
way  by  placing  himself  near  the  Aegates.  "Never  was  fought  a 
more  furious  naval  battle,"  says  Florus.  "  The  Carthaginian  vessels 
were  overladen  with  provisions,  arms,  and  engines  of  all  kinds. 
The  Roman  fleet,  on  the  other  hand,  brisk,  active,  and  light, 
resembled  a  land  army.  It  was  like  a  cavalry  action.  Our  shi^js 
obeyed  the    oar  as  a  horse  does  the  bit,  and  with  their  movable 


'  Zonal-.,  viii.  16. 


THE   FIRST   PUNIC   WAR    FROM   264   TO   241. 


579 


beaks  darted  so  well,  now  against  one  vessel,  now  another, 
that  they  niiglit  have  been  living  creatures."  Lutatius  sank  five 
of  these  defenceless  ships,  and  took  seventy  (10th  March,  241). 
The  Romans  became  undispiitcil  iii:isters  oi"  the  sea  again,  and 
Drepannm,  Lilybaeum.  and  Amilcar  could  l)e  starved  into  snr- 
render.  Moreover,  twenty- 
four  years  of  war,  expense, 
and  sufferings  were  enough 
—  nay,  too  much  —  for  these 
merchants ;  for  the  third  time 
they  asked  to  treat  for 
peace.  Lutatius  required 
that  Amilcar  shoulil  lay 
down  his  arms.  "  Never," 
replied  the  indignant  hero, 
"  will  I  lay  down  these  arms 
that  were  given  me  to  fight 
against  you."  The  consul 
agreed  to  allow  the  Car- 
thaginian army  to  evacuate 
Sicily  freely.  Peace  was 
signed  on  the  following  conditions :  Carthage  should  not  attack 
Iliero  or  his  allies ;  she  should  abandon  Sicily  and  the  Aeolian 
Islands ;  should  restore  all  prisoners  without  ransom,  and  pay  3,200 
Euboic  talents  (nearly  £760,000)  within  ten  years. 

'•  Thus  ended  the  war  of  the  Romans  against  the  Carthaginians 
regarding  Sicily,  after  lasting  twenty-four  years  without  inter- 
ruption :  the  longest  and  most  important  war  of  which  we  have 
ever  heard.  .  .  .  Some  Greeks  assure  us  that  the  Romans  owe  their 
successes  only  to  fortune.  But  after  having  prepared  themselves 
for  great  enterprises  by  expeditions  of  such  importance,  they  had 
nothing  better  to  do  than  to  propose  to  themselves  the  conquest  of 
the  world;  and  this  project  was  likely  to  be  successful."^  Poly- 
bius  is  right ;    and  if  he  could  have  been   shown  beforehand  how 

^  It  represents  Perseus,  aided  by  Athene,  cutting  ofF  Medusa's  head,  and  is  of  the  same 
age  as  that  given  on  p,  .574. 

^  Polybius,  i.  63.  That  historian  is  the  i)rintipal  source  of  iufoniuition  concerning 
this  war. 


AllCIIAIC    METOI'E    FROM    SELIXUS.' 


580  . 


THE  PUNIC  WARS  FROM  264  TO  201. 


much  blood,  how  many  tears,  and  what  ruin  were  necessary  to 
erect  the  edifice  of  Roman  greatness,  he  would  doubtless  have 
rephed :  "  Before  Rome  as  much  blood  had  flowed ;  without  her, 
more  would  have  flowed."  Indeed,  after  her  final  victory,  she 
allowed  none  to  be  shed  for  centuries. 

'  This  African  elephant  differs  from  the  Asiatic  one  in  height,  wliich  is  less,  and  his  ears, 
which  are  larger,  being  as  much  as  4  feet  5  inches  in  length,  and  4  feet  in  breadth.  Living- 
stone saw  a  negro  shelter  himself  from  the  rain  beneath  this  strange  cover.  The  aacient 
engraver  has  faithfully  reproduced  this  characteristic  feature. 


ELEPHANTS    (AFRICAN).! 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


OOUTQUESTS  OP  EOME  AND  CAETHAGE  BETWEEN  TEE  TWO  PUNIO 

WARS  (240-219). 


I.  Expeditions  outside  of  Italy  and  into  Gallia  Cisalpina. 

ROME  had  just  displayed  an  admirable  constancy ;  but  it  seemed 
as  though,  after  such  long  efforts,  she  must  be  exhausted. 
The  population  had,  in  the  space  of  five  years,  fallen  from  297,797 
fighting  men  to  241,212.-'  Seven  hundred  war-ships  had  been 
destroyed,  with  an  immense  number  of  ships  of  burden ;  ^  the 
treasury  was  loaded  with  debts  to  private 

persons  who   had    advanced   money ;    and,      /^^^        cr^^^%\ 
in  order  to  furnish  means  for  so  burden-    ( '\3m^ W^^^^^gW^ 
some  a  war,  the  Senate  had  been  obliged     ^L^j(\y      ^^^^fw 
to   have    recourse    to    the    dangerous    ex-        ^SC--'^  ^v^-i^r^ 

...  ,  _,,  SILVER    DENARIUS  OP    16    ASES.' 

pedient    oi    debasmg    the    currency.       Ihe 

weight  of  the  as  had  been  successively  reduced  from  12  ounces  to 
6,  4,  3,  and  2  ;  and  as  the  state,  on  account  of  its  armaments,  was 
the  universal  debtor,  this  depreciation  of  the  coinage  gave  it  a 
profit  of  five  sixths  of  its  debts,  or  more  than  80  per  cent..  —  an 
operation    which,    as     far     as    its    creditors    were    concerned,    was 

equivalent  to  an  actual  bankruptcy.*     There  was  the  same  diminu- 

« 

1  Livy,  Epit.  xviii.  and  xLx.     The  latter  figure  —  241,212  —  is  that  of  tlie  year  247.    The 
loss  of  the  Romans  during  this  war  has  been  set  down  at  200,000  men. 
■  Polybius,  i.  63. 

*  On  the  obverse,  head  of  Rome  or  P.allas  ;  behind,  the  mark  xvi.  On  the  reverse, 
C.TITINI,  and  in  the  exergue,  ROJLA. ;  Victory  in  a  biga.  Silver  denarius  of  the  Titinian 
family. 

*  Ita  quinque  partes  lucrifactae  dissolutumque  aes  alienum.     (Pliny,  xxxiii.  13.) 


582  THE   FUNIC   WAES   FEOM   264   TO   201. 

tion  of  weight  in  the  silver  coinage.  In  269,  forty  denarii  went 
to  the  pound;  in  244,  seventy-five;  in  241,  eighty-four;  though 
the  denarius  always  represented  ten  ases.^ 

But  the  strength  of  Rome  did  not  consist  in  its  wealth ;  as 
for  the  populace,  the  foundation  of  several  colonies,  a  very  liberal 
distribution  of  land,  and  the  formation,  in  241,  of  two  new  tribes, 
Velina  and  Quirina,  reconstituted  the  class  of  small  proprietors, 
which  the  war  had  decimated.^  Accordingly,  Rome  soon  found 
herself  ready  for  fresh  wars. 

The  First  Punic  War  had  cost  Carthage  Sicily  and  the  empire 
of  the  sea  ;    this  was  too  great  a  shame  and  loss  to  be  endured  ; 


V'J>5?- 


M-^ 


ETNA,    FROM    TAORMINA. 


the  peace  which  had  just  been  signed  was,  in  fact,  nothing  but 
a  truce.  The  Senate  understood  this,  and  employed  the  twenty- 
three  years  of  its  duration  in  fortifying  their  position  in  the 
peninsula  by  occupying  all  the  points  from  which  it  could  be 
menaced,  —  Sicily,  Corsica,  Sardinia,  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and  lUyria. 
They  desired  to  make  Italy  a  fortress. 

1  But  the  as  was  then  at  two  ounces.  In  216  it  is  no  longer  more  than  one  ounce  ;  in  89, 
half  an  ounce.  Yet  during  the  Republic,  though  the  weight  was  altered,  the  name  was  not,  and 
the  coins  were  ahnost  free  from  alloy.  M.  d'Arcet  found  .983  to  be  the  mean  value  of  the 
silver  coinage.  The  silver  denarius  was  originally  worth  10  pounds  of  copper,  dena  ;  hence 
its  name. 

2  This  distribution,  the  date  of  which  is  uncertain,  but  which  must  have  occurred  at  the 
end  or  in  the  last  days  of  the  First  Punic  War,  was  so  great  that  fifteen  commissioners  were 
needed  for  the  division.  Among  them  PUny  (vii.  45)  names  L.  Metellus,  the  conqueror  of 
Fanormus. 


>^' 


H' 


t 


jjS'lgH' 


=~~;e-'^Ai    I, 


I  1 


[i! 


^1  \a 


F 


■|:H''';if; 


»/^ 


CONQUESTS  OF  ROME  AND  OF  CARTHAGE.       585 

Sicily,  the  theatre  of  the  First  Punic  War,  had  seen  her  towns 
by  turns  taken  and  retaken,  often  pillaged,  and  their  inhabitants 
sold.  For  twenty-three  years  she  had  exhausted  her  fields  to  sup- 
port ileets  and  armies,  which  sometimes  counted  more  than  two 
hundred  thousand  men ;  but  this  land,  so  admirably  fertile,  soon 
repaired  its  losses.  The  Senate  hastened  to  declare  it  a  Roman 
provmce ;  ^  this  was  a  new  condition.  It  was  not  needful,  in  point 
of  fact,  to  employ  with  the  Sicilians  the  same  political  caution  as 
the  Romans  had  used  with  the  nations  of  Italy.  Now  that  the 
centre  of  their  empire  was  protected  by  municipalities,  colonies,  and 
allies,  there  must  be  outside  nothing  but  subjects  liable  to  taxation 
and  drudgery.^  Lutatius  disarmed  all  the  inhabitants,  and  made 
part  of  it  public  domain ;  and  two  hundred  towns  only  recovered 
their  territory  on  condition  of  paying  a  tribute,  to  be  fixed  every 
year  by  the  Roman  censors,  and  the  tithe  of  all  the  products  of 
the  soil,  —  often,  indeed,  the  Senate  exacted  a  double  tithe.  Lutatius 
also  wrote  the  formula,  giving  the  subject  cities  a  uniform  organiza- 
tion, in  which,  following  the  example  of  Rome,  aristocratic  prin- 
ciples predominated.  Each  year  a  praetor  was  sent  into  the  new 
province  with  absolute  power,  from  which  there  was  no  appeal 
till  after  its  execution.  True  to  its  maxim  of  never  laying  an 
equal  yoke  on  all,  the  Senate  accorded  privileges  to  certain  chosen 
towns,  —  which  were  few  in  number,  however,  for  Sicily  was  too 
rich  for  Rome  to  deprive  herself  of  the  right  of  despoiling  it  at 
leisure.  Thus  Panormus,  Egesta,  Centuripa,  Halaesa,  and  Halicyae 
were  free,  and  exempt  from  the  tribute,  but  bound  to  military 
service ;  the  little  republic  of  Tauromenium  and  that  of  the 
Mamertines  remained  independent,  as  was  the  kingdom  of  Syracuse ; 
later  on,  too,  there  were  colonies.  Messina  owed  that  favor  to 
the  part  it  played  in  the  First   Punic  War  ;  Syracuse  to  the   long 

1  Festus  derives  this  word  from  provicil,  for  ante  vicii ;  Niebuhr  from  prorentus.  In  the 
former  case  the  word  province  would  have  reminded  men  that  the  Romans  claimed  to  exercise 
in  the  provinces  all  the  rights  of  con(iuest ;  in  the  second,  that  the  jirovinces,  not  having  the 
riglit  to  possess  arms,  would  serve  the  sovereign  state  in  an  exclusively  financial  manner.  But 
pruvincia  more  esijcciallv  denotes  an  olhce  whidi  one  has  engaged  upon  oath  to  fulfil,  and  con- 
sequently the  object  of  that  office ;  thus  it  means  the  duty  of  holding  elections  (Livy,  xxxv. 
20)  to  manage  the  water  supply  (Cic,  in  Vat.  §  5.)  The  formal  organization  of  the  province 
of  Sicily  did  not  take  place  till  227  B.  c. 

^  Livy,  xxxi.  31  :  civitaten  stipendiarias  ac  vcctigales.  We  will  return  to  the  subject  of  the 
condition  of  these  provinces  later  on. 


586 


THE   PUNIC    WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 


fidelity  of  Hiero.  As  for  Tauromeniuni,  built  on  a  mountain  900 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  defended  by  a  citadel  built  492  feet 
higher,  on  an  almost  inaccessible  rock,  it  had  doubtless  disjjlayed 
in  those  times  the  sentiments  which  it  manifested  in  later  days  to 
Marcellus,  and  which  gained  it  the  title  of  deltas  foederata. 

As  had  been  done  for  the  greater  part  of  the  Italians,  so  here 
it  was  forbidden  to  the  inhabitants  to  acquire  any  possessions 
beyond  the  territory   of   their  cities.     Thence  there   came   a   great 


THEATRE    OF    TAOKMINA. 


fall  in  the  price  of  land,  of  which  the  Roman  speculators,  who 
could  buy  anywhere,  took  advantage  to  monopolize  the  best 
estates.  From  day  to  day  the  number  of  indigenous  proprietors 
diminished,  and  Cicero  could  scarcely  find  a  few  in  each  town. 
With  the  small  properties,  the  class  of  free  husbandmen  disappeared 
from  the  whole  island.  Immense  farms,  cultivated  for  rich  Roman 
knights  by  an  innumerable  multitude  of  slaves ;  harvests,  but  no 
more    poets   or   artists,  —  such   is    henceforth   the   state   of    Sicily. 


A 

-FT"' 


r--- 


u.-..-..-,^ 


TEMPLE   OF    JUNO    MATUTA    (RESTORATION    OF    M.    LEFUEL). 


CONQUESTS  OF  HOME  AND  OF  CARTHAGE. 


589 


Having  become  the  granary  of  Rome,  she  saves  the  people  and 
army  from  famine  more  than  once.  But  from  her  bosom,  too, 
there  issue  the  Servile  wars,  the  cruel  expiation  of  impolitic 
measures.  It  is  a  law  of  humanity,  —  evil  breeds  evil.  We  have 
seen  it  in  our  own  days  in  Ireland,  which  has  long  been,  from  analo- 
gous causes,  a  thorn  in  England's  side. 


lictvtihs  I 


Stp.     of   '  •■'I'aiiliry.H        1^'  ^ 


W     CORSICA 

AND 

SARDINIA 


Scale  =  U  ^"o  ooo 


-j-rf zr- 


Sardinia  and  Corsica  were  acquired  at  the  cost  of  a  piece  of 
treachery.  At  the  news  that  the  mercenaries  of  Carthage,  who  had 
been  led  back  from  Sicily  into  Africa,  had  revolted,'  those  left  in 
Sardinia  had  massacred  their  leaders  and  all  the  Carthaginians 
in    the    island;  a   rising   of    the    inhabitants    against    this    soldiery 


1  See  p.  604. 


590  THE   PUNIC   WAKS   FEOM   264   TO   201. 

obliged  it  to  put  itself  under  the  protection  of  Rome.  The  Senate, 
which  had  supported  the  soldiers  in  Africa  in  their  revolt  by 
allowing  provisions  to  be  taken  to  them  from  all  the  ports  of 
Italy/  did  not  hesitate  to  take  advantage  of  the  embarrassment  of 
their  rival  to  declare  that  as  the  rule  of  Carthage  had  ceased  in 
the  island,  they  could,  without  a  breach  of  treaty,  take  possession 
of  Sardinia.  Then,  on  the  report  that  Carthage  was  making  some 
preparations,  they  pretended  to  think  that  Italy  was  threatened, 
and  declared  war.  Their  wrath  was  appeased  by  the  offer  of 
1,200  talents  and  the  abandonment  of  Sardinia.  It  was  still 
necessary  to  conquer  the  Sardinians,  whom  their  old  masters  pro- 
bably supported  in  secret.  The  Senate  employed  eight  years  over 
it,  and  two  consuls  came  back  thence  to  triumph.  One  of  these, 
Pomponius  Matho,  in  order  to  track  the  islanders  to  their  remotest 
retreats,  had  made  use  of  dogs  trained  to  hunt  men,  —  an  expedient 
which  the  Spaniards  renewed  in  the  New  World.  This  conquest 
ended,  as  it  had  begun,  l)y  hateful  means. 

Corsica  shared  the  fate  of  the  neighboring  island;  the  Senate 
declared  it  a  Roman  province.  In  reality  it  preserved  that  liberty 
which  no  enemy  dared  to  spoil,  in  the  depths  of  its  impene- 
trable coverts.^  Too  wild  and  too  poor  to  furnish  tribute  in 
wheat,  like  Sardinia,  Corsica  paid  it  in  the  honey  of  its  bees ;  it 
promised  100,000  pounds  of  it.^  The  creation  of  these  two  pro- 
vinces obliged  the  number  of  praetors  to  1)e  raised  to  four ;  two, 
the  2}raetor  urbanus  and  the  inaetor  peregrinus,  remained  at  Rome ; 
the  other  two  were  appointed,  one  to  govern  Sicily,  the  other  Sar- 
dinia and  Corsica  (227  B.  c). 

Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Corsica  being  subdued,  the  Tyrrhenian 
Sea  became  a  Roman  lake.  On  the  other  sea  the  coast  was 
guarded  from  Rimini  to  Brundusium  by  six  colonies.*  But  the 
coast  of  Illyria,  with  its  numberless  islands,  has  been  inhabited 
in  all  ages  by  dangerous  pirates.  At  the  time  of  which  we 
are    speaking    the    Adriatic    was    infested    with     them.      Nothing 

I  Polybius,  i.  83.  They  forbade  it  wlien  the  mercenaries  were  on  the  point  of 
triumphing. 

-  Livy  says  even  of  the  Sardinians  in  the  time  of  Augustus  :  gente  ne  nunc  quidem  pacata, 

(xi.  34.) 

«  Val.  Max.,  iii.  5 ;  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.  xv.  29. 

*  Ariminum,  Sena,  Iladria,  Castrum  Novum,  Firmum,  Brundu.sium. 


CONQUESTS   OP   ROME   AND   OF   CARTHAGE. 


591 


COIN    OF    COUCYKA. 


passed  without  paying  toll ;  the  coasts  of  Greece  were  ceaselessly 
devastated,  those  of  Italy  threatened.^  A  few  years  previously 
they  had  beaten  the  Aetolians  and  Epirotes,  taken  Phoenice,  the 
richest  town  in  Epirus,  pillaged  Elis  and  Messenia,  and  drawn  the 
Acarnanians  into  alliance  with  them. 
On  complaints  being  raised  on  all 
sides,  the  Senate  sent  ambassadors  to 
Teuta,  the  widow  of  their  last  king, 
who  governed  a  port  of  Illyria  in 
the  name  of  her  son  Pmeus."'^  She 
proudly  replied  that  it    was  not  the 

custom  of  the  kings  of  Illyria  to  forbid  their  subjects  to  cruise  for 
their  own  profit.  At  these  words  the  youngest  of  the  deputies, 
one  Coruncanius,  replied :  "•  With  us.  Queen,  the  custom  is  never  to 
leave  unpunished  the  wrongs  suffered  by  our  fellow-citizens ;  and  we 
will  so  do,  if  it  please  the  gods,  that  you  yourself  will  set  about  re- 
forming the  customs  of  the  lUyrian 
kings."  Teuta,  in  irritation,  caiised 
the  bold  youth  to  be  slain,  with 
those  who  had  promoted  this  Roman 
embassy,  and  had  the  commanders 
of  the  vessels  which  had  brought 
it  burned  alive.      Then    the  pirating 

began  again  with   more  boldness  than  liefore ;   Corcyra  was  taken, 
Epidamnus  and  ApoUonia  besieged,  and  an  Achaean  fleet  beaten. 

This  was  a  good  opportunity  for  the  Romans  to  show  them- 
selves to  the  Greeks.  The  Senate  saw  what  advantage  they  might 
derive  from  these  events,  and  loftily  assumed  the  character  of 
protector  of  Greece,^  which  they  played  to  the  last  with  so  much 


COIN    OF    APOLLONIA.* 


1  Pliny  {Nat.  Hist.  Hi.  2G)  calls  an  lUyrian  tribe,  the  Yardaei,  poputatores  quondam  Italiae. 
^  "Aypcov  rjv  ^aa-iXfvs  'iXKvpiai/  fiipovs.      (Appian,  lUjP'.  ^ .) 

*  Cow  suckling  her  calf.  On  tlie  reverse,  K  backwards,  the  initial  letter  of  the  name  of 
Corcyra.     Plan  of  the  gardens  of  AlcinoUs,  eelebrated  by  Homer.     Silver  coin  of  Corcvra. 

*  APXE.\A02.  Head  of  Apollo.  On  the  reverse,  API2TI2N  AYSDNOS,  the  names  of 
two  magistrates.  Three  girls  dancing;  between  them  we  read.  AnOA.  Silver  drachma  of 
Aj)ollouia  in  Illyria. 

*  Two  years  later  they  also  took  the  Greeks  of  Saguntum  under  their  protection.  In 
the  year  267  they  had  concluded  an  alliance  with  the  Apollonians  (Livy,  Epit.  xv.),  and  in 
237,  on  the  demand  of  the  Acarnanians,  they  had  ordered  the  Aetolians  to  respect  Acarnania, 
the  only  country  in  all  Greece,  said  their  ambassadors,  which  had  not  taken  part  in  the 
Trojan  war!     (Just.,  xxviii.  1  and  2.) 


592 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FEOM   264   TO   201. 


COIN    OF    ACARNANIA.' 


success.  In  order  to  give  a  great  idea  of  tlieir  power,  tliey  sent 
against  these  miserable  enemies  two  hundred  vessels,  twenty 
thousand   legionaries,  and  the   two    consuls  (229).      They  had   not 

done  so  much  against  Carthage  at  first. 
Corcyra  was  given  up  l)y  a  traitor, 
Demetrius ;  the  Illyrians  were  besieging 
Issa  in  the  island  of  the  same  name 
(Lissa) :  they  were  driven  from  it ;  and 
not  one  of  the  places  that  attempted 
resistance  could  hold  out.  Teuta,  in  affright,  yielded  all  that 
Rome  demanded,  —  a  tribute,  the  cession  of  a  part  of  lUyria,  a 
promise   not    to   send   more   than   two    vessels   to    sea   beyond    the 

Lissus,  and  the  heads  of  her  chief 
councillors,  in  order  to  appease  with 
the  shedding  of  their  blood  the  irri- 
tated manes  of  the  young  Coi'uncaniua 
(228).  The  Greek  towns  subdued  by 
the  Illyrians,  Corcyra  and  Apollonia, 
were  restored  to  their  independence.^ 
The  consuls  hastened  to  make  this  treaty  known  to  the 
Greeks,  reminding  them  that  it  was  for  tlieir  protection  they  had 
crossed  the  sea.  The  deputies  showed  themselves  in  every  town 
amid  the  applause  of  the  crowd.  At  Corinth  they  were  admitted 
to  the  Isthmian  games,  at  Athens  the  citizenship  was  bestowed  on 
them,  and  they  were  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  Eleusis.  Thus 
began  the  first  political  relations  between  Rome  and  Greece. 

The    Romans   had   given   Demetrius   the    Island  of   Pharos  and 
some    districts    of    Illyria.       Not    considering    himself    sufficiently 


COIN    OF    ISSA.-^ 


1  AKAPNANQN.  Head  of  the  River  Acheloiis,  with  two  liorns,  whicli  figure  the 
rapidity  of  its  current,  or  call  to  mind  that  he  changed  himself  into  a  bull  to  fight  Hercules. 
The  hero  tore  off  one  of  his  horns,  which  became  the  horn  of  plenty,  —  a  pleasing  image  of  the 
works  executed  in  order  to  embank  the  river  and  restore  vast  tracts  to  agriculture ;  beneath, 
a  serpent,  another  symbol  of  the  winding  course  of  the  stream.  On  the  reverse,  the  name  of 
a  magistrate,  MENNEIA2,  and  behind  Apollo,  who  is  seated  on  a  rock  and  holds  a  bow ;  in 
the  field,  a  torch.     Silver  coin  of  the  Acarnanians. 

2  On  the  obverse,  a  woman's  head  and  the  name  of  the  town.  On  the  reverse,  a  star. 
Bronze  coin.  Issa  was  an  important  island  on  the  Illyrian  coast.  The  Romans,  whom  it 
had  furnished  with  the  ojiportunity  of  acquiring  a  valuable  province,  exempted  it  from  all 
tribute  (Livy,  xlv.  2f>),  and  its  inhabitants  afterward  received  the  juf  civilatis.  (Pliny,  Nal. 
Hist.  iii.  21.) 

»  Polybius,  ii.  11  ;  Zonaras,  viii.  19.     Cf.  for  this  war,  Appian,  Illi/r.  7. 


CONQUESTS  0¥   EOME  AND  OF  CARTHAGE. 


593 


COIN    OF    PIIAUdS 


recompensed,  he  joined  the  corsairs,  and  led  King  Pineus  into  revolt 
with  liiin.  Tlie  Gallic  war,  of  which  we  sliall  presently  speak,  was 
ended,  and  the  Senate,  free  from  all  disquietude  in  Italy,  was  able 
to  send  another  consul  into  Illyria. 
Demetrius  took  refuge  with  the  King 
of  Macedonia,  whom  he  soon  after- 
ward induced  to  take  arms  against' 
the  Romans,  and  Pineus  submitted  to 
the  conditions  of  the  former  treaty 
(219).  Rome  thus  possessed  good 
ports  and  a  vast  province  on  the  Greek  mainland,  —  a  kind  of 
outpost,  which  protected  Italy  and  threatened  Macedonia.  The 
Adriatic  was  pacified  like  the  Tyrrhenian  Sea,  and  the  merchant 
cities  of  Italy  heartily  united  themselves  with  the  fortune  of 
a  Government  which  gave  security  and  impulse  to  their  com- 
mei'ce.^ 

From  Sicily  to  the  northern  extremities  of  Umbria  and  Etruria 
the  Roman  sway  was  accepted  or  endured  in  silence.  Beyond  the 
Rubicon  and  the  Apennines  all  remained  free  ;  Cisalpine  Gaul,  not- 
withstanding the  defeat  of  the  Boii  at  Lake  Vadimon  in  283, 
had  not  been  subjugated.  The  fertility  of  these  plains,  which 
make  Lombardy  a  garden,  astonished  Polybius,  even  after  he  had 
seen  Sicily  and  Africa.  "  Such  abundance  of  grain,"  says  he,  "  is 
reaped  there  when  the  land  is  cultivated,  that  we  have  seen  a 
measure  of  wheat  at  4  oboli,  and  one  of  barley  at  half  that  price. 
A  measure  of  wine  is  exchanged  for  an  equal  measure  of  barley. 
Millet  grows  there  in  abundance.  Numerous  woods  of  oak  furnish 
such  quantities  of  mast  that  the  plains  of  the  Po  produce  a  great 
part  of  the  pork  of  wliich  so  much  is  used  in  Italy,  either  for  the 
nourishment  of  the  people  or  the  provisioning  of  the  armies.  In 
short,  one  can  satisfy  all  the  needs  of  life  for  so  small  an  expendi- 
ture, that  travellers  who  stop  at  the  hostelries  do  not  offer  a 
separate   price    for   each    thing   provided,    but   pay   their   reckoning 

1  Laurel-crowned  head  of  Jupiter.  On  tlie  reverse,  *APIQN ;  goat  standing  before  a 
serpent.     Bronze  coin  of  Pharos. 

2  This  commerce  was  much  more  considerable  than  is  supposed,  and  Rome  protected  it 
most  energetically.  The  motive  of  the  war  declared  against  Carthage  during  the  mercenary 
war  was  the  capture  of  a  great  number  of  merchant  vessels  belonging  to  Italy ;  and  the 
piracies  of  Teuta's  subjects  on  Italian  commerce  were  the  first  cause  of  the  Ulyrian  war. 

VOL.   I.  38 


594  •         THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 

by  the   head ;    and   it   often   happens    that   they    settle    the   whole 
bill  with  the  fourth  part  of  an  obolus."  ' 

In  this  frnitful  country  the  Gallic  race  had  increased  with 
incredible  fertility.  Cato  counted  one  hundred  and  two  Boian 
tribes.  Polybius,  who  saw  them  almost  a  century  after  the  period 
to  which  our  story  has  led  us,  found  them  inhabitants  of  unwalled 
villages,  sleeping  on  grass  or  straw,  without  any 
furniture,  and  eating  only  meat.  Warfare  was  their 
principal  occupation,  gold  or  cattle  the  only  wealth 
which  they  esteemed,  because  they  could  transport  it 
wherever  their  adventurous  life  led  them. 

Intestine  wars,  arising  from  the  rivalry  of  their 
chiefs,  the  jealousy  of  the  tribes,  the  hatred  of  the 
"^'^"boiT"'^^'^  Taurini  agamst  the  Insubres,  of  the  Cenomani  against 
the  Boii,  of  the  Venetians  against  them  all,  and  the 
lucrative  service  in  the  armies  of  Carthage,  which  attracted  the 
most  restless  of  these  adventurers,  had  for  forty-five  years  saved 
the  peninsula  from  the  dangers  of  a  Gallic  invasion.  The  repose 
which  the  peace  of  241  had  restored  to  the  world  did  not  suit 
these  campaigners.  In  238  two  Boian  chiefs,  supported  by  the 
youth  of  the  land,  were  anxious,  in  spite  of  the  old  men,  to 
drag  their  nation  into  a  war  against  Rome.  They  called  in  some 
tribes  from  the  Alps  and  fell  upon  Arimininn.  But  the  peace 
party  carried  the  day ;  the  two  chiefs  were  murdered,  their 
auxiliaries  driven  away,  and  calm  restored  before  the  legions  could 
reach  the  frontier. 

At  this  time  the  expeditions  to  Sardinia  and  Illyria  had  not 
commenced ;  the  Gauls  appeared  intimidated,  and  Carthage  was 
defeated;  the  Senate  closed  the  temple  of  Janus,  for  the  first 
time  since  Numa.  Almost  immediately  troubles  broke  out  on  all 
sides,  and  Rome  again  l^ecame  the  city  of  Mars. 

The  Ligurians  descended  from  their  mountains  and  pillaged  the 
Etruscan  plains  ;  to  drive  them  back  again  required  six  years  and 
the  talents  of  Fabius.     This  war  was  only  tedious ;  that  against  the 

1  Polybius,  ii.  15,  17.  This  picture  is  to  tliis  day  partly  true.  One  can  live  very 
cheaply  in  the  plain  of  the  Po  outsidu  the  great  hotels,  and  Bologna  sends  its  sausages  all 
over  Europe. 

^  On  the  obverse,  here  represented  above,  an  uncertain  object.  On  the  reverse,  a  rain- 
bow above  a  boat.     Gold  coin  of  the  Boii. 


CONQUESTS  OF  KOME  AND  OF  CARTHAGE. 


595 


Boii  was  dangerous.  The  Senate  had  forbidden  the  sale  of  arms  to 
them,  and  the  tribune,  Flamiuius,  had  proposed  the  division  of  the 
land  of  the  Senones,  lying  along  the  frontier,  which  had  remained 
almost  deserted  since  the  war  of  extermination  in  283.  This  j)roposi- 
tion  was  in  accordance  with  the  policy  of  Rome  :  it  relieved  the  city 
of  its  poor,  rewarded  the  veterans  of  the  Punic  war,  and  placed  at 


WALLS    OF    FAESULAE    (fIESOLE).I 


the  approaches  to  Cisalpine  Gaul  a  Roman  population,  which  would 
act  as  a  living  rampart  against  Gallic  invasions.  But  it  deprived 
the  nobles  of  the  pastures  which  they  considered  as  their  property ; 
they  violently  rejected  it,  and  when  Flaminius  had  it  voted  by 
the  tribes  in  the  comitia,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  Senate, 
they  accused  him  of  having  caused  the  revolt  of  the  Boii.  The 
latter,  terrified  at  the  idea  of  having  the  Romans  for  neighbors, 
joined  with  the  Insubres,  and  called  in  from  Transalpine  Gaul  a 
formidable  army  of  Gaesates,  warriors  belonging  to  various  tribes, 
but  united  by  a  common  taste  for  adventures.  "  Never,"  says 
Polybius,  "  had  braver  soldiers  crossed  the  Alps."  Happily  the 
Cenomani  and  Venetians  betrayed  the  common  cause.     Rome  had 

'  From  a  print  in  the  Biblioih'cquc  nationale. 


596    ■  THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 

for  a  long  time  come  to  an  understanding  with  the  former ;  the 
others  had  always  been  hostile  to  the  Cisalpine  Gauls.  This 
diversion  obliged  the  confederates  to  leave  a  portion  of  their 
forces  for  the  protection  of  their  homesteads ;  the  remainder, 
consisting  of  50,000  foot-soldiers  and  20,000  horsemen,  or  soldiers 
mounted  on  war-chariots,  set  out  for  Rome.  The  Cisalpines  were 
commanded  by  Britomar,  the  Insubrian ;  the  Gaesates,  armed  with 
the  gals,  a  blunt  sword,  sharp  only  on  one  edge,  followed  their 
kings  Concolitan  and  Aneroestus.  All  had  sworn,  leaders  and 
soldiers,  not  to  take  off  their  baldrics  till  they  had  ascended  the 
Capitol. 

Terror  was  at  its  height  in  the  town ;  the  Sibylline  books 
were  consulted,  and  demanded  the  sacrifice  of  a  Gallic  man  and 
woman  and  a  Grecian  man  and  woman.  They  were  buried  alive 
in  the  midst  of  the  Forum  Boarium,  and  the  oracle  which  announced 
that  the  Gauls  and  Greeks  should  take  possession  of  the  Roman 
soil  was  thought  to  be  accomplished.  But  according  to  the  popu- 
lar belief  these  unhappy  laeings  might  after  their  death  become 
formidable ;  so  in  order  to  appease  their  anger,  a  sacrifice  was 
instituted,  which  was  yearly  celebrated  "  on  the  Gallic  grave." 
Having  thus  settled  accounts  with  the  gods  and  the  murdered 
victims,  Rome  set  herself  about  warding  off  the  danger.  Vain 
terrors  did  not  banish  manly  resolutions ;  she  trusted  to  the  gods, 
but  especially  to  herself ;  and  this  was  what  made  her  so  great,  in 
spite  of  her  superstitious  spirit. 

The  Senate  declared  that  there  was  a  tumuUus,  and  every  man 
fit  to  carry  a  sword  took  arms,  even  such  of  the  jariests  as  the  law 
dispensed  from  service;  150,000  soldiers  were  drawn  up  before 
Rome,  and  620,000,  furnished  by  the  allies,  were  held  in  reserve. 
The  Samnites  had  promised  70,000  foot  and  16,000  horse ;  the 
Latins,  80,000  foot  and  5,000  horse ;  the  lapyges  and  Messapians, 
50,000  foot  and  16,000  liorse ;  the  Lucanians,  30,000  foot  and 
3,000  horse ;  the  Marsic  confederation,  20,000  foot  and  4,000  horse. 
The  Romans  and  Campanians  alone  could  furnish  273,000  men. 
Thus  the  whole  of  Italy  rose  to  defend  Rome,  and  drive  back  the 
barbarians. 

Two  routes  led  from  Upper  Italy  into  the  Valley  of  the  Tiber. 
In  order   to   close  them,  one  of    the  consuls  stationed  himself   on 


CONQUESTS   OF   liOME  AND  OF  CARTHAGE. 


597 


the  east  of  the  Apennmes  before  Ariininuin ;  a  praetor  established 
himself  on  the  west,  near  Faesulae,  with  54,000  Etruscans  and 
Sabines,  and  the  other  consular  army  was  recalled  m  haste  from 
Sardinia,  with  orders  to  land  at  Pisa,  and  guard  the  passes  of  the 
Apennines  in  Liguria,  if  it  was  not  too  late.  So  many  precautions 
and  preparations  almost  turned  out  useless.  The  Gauls,  crossing 
the  Apennines  at  a  place  where  the  legions  did  not  expect  them, 
left  behind  them  the  praetorian 
army  which  guarded  the  moun- 
tain passage  on  the  Urabrian 
side,  and  arrived  within  three 
days'  march  of  Rome.  The 
praetor  had  followed  them  ; 
they  turned  upon  him,  killed 
six  thousand  of  his  men,  and 
hemmed  in  the  remains  of  his 
legion  upon  a  hill.  Fortunately 
the  consul  Aemilius  arrived 
during  the  night,  having  has- 
tened from  Ariminum  at  the 
news  of  this  bold  march.  The 
Gauls,  being  embarrassed  with 
immense  plunder  and  many 
captives,  were  desirous  of 
placing  their  acquisitions  in 
safety  at  home,  then  to  return 
and   en2;aa;e    m    battle.       I  his 

resolution  was  their  ruin.  They  were  marching  along  the  coast, 
followed  by  Aemilius,  in  order  to  reach  Liguria,  when  the  consul 
Atilius,  having  landed  at  Pisa  with  his  legions,  fell  upon  their 
vanguard  near  Cape  Telamon  (near  the  mouth  of  the  Ombrone). 
The  Gauls  were  caught  between  three  armies.  They  stationed 
then"  chariots  on  the  flanks  to  protect  them,  their  booty  and 
captives  they  placed  on  a  hill  in  their  midst ;  and  whilst  the 
Gaesates  and  Insubres  faced  Aemilius  in  the  rear,  the  Boii  and  Tau- 
risci  resisted  the  consul  Atilius  in   the  front.     "  It  was   a   strange 


'  From  a  bas-relief  found  at  Faesulae.     (Jlicali,  ])1.  ii.  fig.  ;i.) 


598   ■  THE   PUNIC   WAKS   FEOM   264   TO   201. 

siglit ;  innumerable  trumpets  and  the  Avar-cries  of  the  barbarians 
filled  the  air  with  fearful  noises,  whicli  the  hills  re-echoed,  and 
the  great  naked  figures  were  seen  violently  brandishing  their  arms. 
But  if  their  shouts  caused  terror,  the  golden  collars  and  bracelets 
which  loaded  their  arms  and  necks  gave  hope  of  a  ricli  booty." 
The  consul  Atilius  was  killed  in  a  cavalry  skirmish  which  preceded 
the  general  action.  The  latter  was  commenced  l)y  the  archers  of 
the  legions,  who  showered  upon  the  enemy's  line  a  hail  of  arrows, 
not  ■  one  of  which  was  lost,  for  the  Gaesates,  who,  with  ostentatious 
courage,  and  in  order  to  be  more  free  in  their  movements,  had 
stripped  off  their  clothing  down  to  their  belts,  could  not  shelter 
themselves  under  their  small  shields.  After  the  archers  the  infan- 
try, clad  in  excellent  armor,  came  on  at  racing  speed,  and  fell  to  the 
attack  with  their  short  strong  swords  well  sharpened  on  each  edge 
and  at  the  point.  The  Gauls,  whose  sabres  bent  at  every  blow, 
for  some  time  resisted  by  their  mass  and  their  indomitable  courage. 
"  If  they  had  had  the  weapons  of  the  Romans,  they  would  have 
gained  the  victoiy."  And  Polybius,  in  so  saying,  expressed  the 
opinion  of  the  oldest  historian  of  Rome,  Fabius  Pictor,  who  had 
been  present  at  the  battle  ^  when  the  Roman  cavalry,  breakmg 
through  the  line  of  chariots,  charged  them  on  the  flank,  and  a 
frightful  confusion  broke  out  in  the  barl)arian  army,  thus  pressed 
from  before,  behind,  and  on  the  side.  Forty  thousand  barbarians 
were  left  on  the  battle-field  :  ten  thousand  were  made  prisoners. 
One  of  the  Gallic  brenns,  Concolitan,  was  taken ;  another,  Ane- 
roestus,  slew  with  his  own  hand  those  of  his  devoted  band  who 
had  survived  the  combat,  and  stabbed  himself  (225).  The  fate 
of  Britomar  is  not  known.  The  captives  kept  their  oath ;  they 
ascended  to  the  Capitol  wearing  their  baldrics,  but  preceding  the 
triumphal  car  of  Aemilius.  Midway  they  laid  them  aside  to  enter 
the  TuUianum,  whence  none  came  out  alive. 

Rome  had  been  frightened.  The  Senate  decided  to  free  Italy 
from  such  fears ;  and  in  the  following  year  sent  the  two  consuls 
into  Cisalpine  Gaul  to  begin  the  conquest  of  it.  The  Gauls  on  the 
south  of  the  Po,  enfeebled  by  the  great  disaster  of  Telamon,  gave 
hostages,  and  delivered  up  three  of  their  strongholds  to  the  Romans, 

'  .  .  .  Qui  ei  bcllo  interfuit.     (Eutrop.,  iii.  5.) 


CONQUESTS  OF  ROME  AND  OF  CARTHAGE. 


599 


amongst  them  jModeiia  (224).  But  those  on  the  north,  the  Insubres, 
met  the  consuls  with  vigor  wlien,  in  the  following  year,  the  latter 
for  the  first  time  risked  the  Roman  standards  on  the  north  bank 
of  the  river.  The  Romans  were  glad  to  accept  a  treaty  which 
allowed  them  to  retire  without  fighting.  They  reached  the  country 
of  the  Cenomani,  where 
a  few  days,  rest  and 
plenty  restored  strength 
to  their  troops ;  then, 
forgetting  the  treaty, 
they  again  entered  the 
Tnsubrian  territory  at 
the  foot  of  the  Alps. 
Fifty  thousand  men 
marched  against  them 
to  avenge  this  perfidy. 
They  had  taken  from 
their  temples  their  sacred 
flags,  the  hnmovablcs, 
which  were  never 
brought  out  except  in 
the  greatest  dangers. 
Flaminius,  one  of  the 
consuls,  was  that  former 
tribune  so  hateful  to  the 
nobles  on  account  of 
his  proposition  to  dis- 
tribute the  lands  of  the 
Senones.  The  Senate, 
not  being  able  to  hinder 
his  election,  made  the 
gods  speak  to  anniil  it ;  miracles  multiplied,  and  the  augurs 
declared  the  appointment  of  Flaminius  and  his  colleague,  Furius, 
illegal.  A  decree  recalled  them ;  Flaminius  received  it  at  the 
moment  of  commencing  the  battle,  and  took  no   notice  of  it ;    he 


GROUP    FROM    THE    VILLA    lATDOVISI.' 


1  It  was  long  thought  that  this  group  represented  the  death  of  Arria  and  Pactus ;  we 
dare  not  assert  that  the  artist  wished  to  consecrate  the  famous  remembrance  of  the  suicide  of 
Aneroestus,  but  it  is  certainly  a  barbarian  killing  his  wife  and  himself  after  a  defeat. 


600 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 


could  only  escape  condemnation  by  a  victory.  He  impressed  the 
necessity  of  it  upon  his  soldiers,  posting  them  in  front  of  a  deep 
river,  and  breaking  down  the  bridges  behind  them.  The  swords 
of  the  barbarians,  badly  tempered  and  pointless,  grew  blunt  and 
bent  easily.  After  the  first  blow  the  soldiers  were  obliged  to 
press  them  against  the  ground  and  straighten  them  with  their 
feet.  Having  observed  this  at  the  battle  of  Cape  Telamon,  the 
tribunes  distributed  the  pikes  of  the  triarii  among  the  men  of 
the  first  rank,  with  orders  not  to  attack  with  the  sword  till 
they  saw  that  the  sabres  of  the  Gauls  had  been  Ijent  by  striking 
on  the  iron  of  the  pike.     The  Insubres  lost  eight    thousand   dead, 

and  ten  thousand  prisoners  (22.3  B.  c). 
They  asked  for  peace  ;  and,  on  the 
refusal  of  the  Senate,  hastily  called 
in  from  the  Transalpine  regions 
thirty  thousand  Gaesates,  commanded 
by  King  Virdumar,  who  came  and 
proudly  laid  siege  to  the  strong- 
hold of  Clastidium,  on  the  south 
of  the  Po,  which,  in  the  hands  of 
Rome,  had  become  one  of  the 
fetters  of  Cisalpine  Gaiil.  The 
Roman  consul,  Marcellus,  he  who 
some  years  later  won,  against  Hannibal,  the  surname  of  the  Sword 
of  Home,  hastened  to  relieve  it.  As  he  was  drawing  up  his  line 
of  battle,  his  horse,  frightened  by  the  confused  cries  of  the 
barbarians,  suddenly  turned  and  carried  him,  in  spite  of  himself, 
to  the  rear.  With  such  superstitious  soldiers  as  the  Romans  were, 
this  natural  incident  might  be  taken  for  a  presage  of  defeat,  and 
might  lead  to  it.  Marcellus,  on  the  contrary,  turned  it  to  ad- 
vantage. He  pretended  to  be  anxious  to  accomplish  a  religious 
act,  made  his  horse  complete  the  circle,  and  when  he  had  returned 
in  front  of  the  enemy,  worshipped  the  sun.  After  that  they  could 
fight ;  it  was  only  one  of  the  ordinary  ceremonies  of  the  adora- 
tion of  the  gods.  When  the  King  of  the  Gaesates  perceived 
Marcellus,  judging  by  the   splendor  of   his   arms    that  he    must  be 

'  The  Furii  appear  to  have  been  originally  from  Tiisculum,  where  the  remains  of  a  tomb 
of  that  family  are  seen. 


TOMB    OF    TUE    GENS    FURIA.l 


CONQUESTS   OF  ROME   AND   OP  CAETHAGE.  601 

the  chief,  he  spurred  his  horse  out  of  the  ranks,  and  challenged 
him  to  single  combat  between  the  two  armies. 

The  consul  had  just  vowed  to  Jupiter  Feretrius  the  most 
I)eautiful  arms  that  should  be  taken  from  the  enemy.  At  the 
sight  of  this  Gaul,  whose  armor  was  resplendent  with  the  blaze 
of  gold,  silver,  and  purple,  Marcellus  had  no  doubt  that  these  were 
the  promised  spoils,  and  that  the  gods  had  sent  the  barbarian  to 
fall  beneath  his  blows.  He  rushed  straight  at  him  at  the  full 
gallop  of  his  horse,  and  struck  him  with  his  lance  right  on  the 
breast  with  such  force  that  the  cuirass  was  pierced,  and  Virdumar 
fell.  Before  he  could  rise,  Marcellus  dealt  him  another  blow ;  then 
sprang  to  the  groimd,  tore  off  his  arms,  and,  raising  them  towards 
heaven,  cried :  '"  Jupiter,  receive  the  spoils  whicli  I  offer  thee,  and 
deign  to  grant  us  like  fortune  in  the  course  of  this  war."  The 
Romans,  excited  by  the  exploit  of  their  leader,  fell  impetuously 
on  the  enemy.  After  a  bloody  affray  the  Gaesates  took  to  flight. 
Despair  seized  the  Insubres.  They  yielded  themselves  to  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  Senate,  who  made  them  pay  a  heavy  indemnity,  and 
confiscated  a  part  of  their  territory,  in  order  to  establish  colonies 
there  (222). 

All  that  was  most  magnificent  in  the  arrangements  of  the 
Roman  festivals  was  employed  to  celebrate  the  victory  of  Marcellus, 
—  the  third  who  had  triumphed  with  the  sjjolia  opima.  The  streets 
through  which  the  procession  ^  was  to  pass  were  strewn  with  flowers, 
and  incense  smoked  everywhere.  A  numerous  band  of  musicians 
led  the  march  ;  then  came  the  oxen  for  sacrifice,  with  their  horns 
gilded,  and,  after  a  long  string  of  chariots,  bearing  the  arms  taken 
from  the  enemy,  the  Gallic  captives,  whose  higli  stature  and  mar- 
tial bearing  struck  every  eye.  A  clown,  dressed  as  a  woman,  and 
a  troop  of  satyrs,  insulted  their  grief  by  joyful  songs.  Finally, 
amid  the  smoke  of  perfumes,  there  appeared  the  triumpher,  clad  in 
a  purple  robe  embroidered  with  gold,  his  head  crowned  with  laurels 
and  his  face  painted  with  vermilion  like  the  statues  of  the  gods ; 
on  his  shoulder  he  bore  the  helmet,  cuirass,  and  tunic  of  Virdumar, 

1  The  procession  was  formed  on  the  Fiekl  of  INIars,  and  crossed  the  Flaminian  Circus,  the 
Triumphal  Gate,  where  the  senators  and  magistrates  awaited  it,  tlien  the  Circus  JIaximus,  and 
by  tlie  valley  which  separated  the  Caelian  from  the  Palatine  reached  the  Via  Sacra,  and 
arrived  at  the  Capitol  by  the  cUviis  Victoriae.     See  the  plan  of  Home. 


602 


THE   PUNIC   WAES   FROM   264   TO   201. 


arranged  round  the  trunk  of  an  oak.  At  the  sight  of  this  glorious 
trophy  the  crowd  made  the  air  resound  with  the  cry  of  "  Triumph ! 
triumjjli!"  interrupted  only  by  the  warrior  hymns  of  the  soldiers. 

"  As  the  triumphal  car  began  to  turn  from  the  Forum  towards 
the  Capitol,  Marcellus  made  a  sign,  and  the  flower  of  the  Gallic 
captives  were  led  to  a  prison,  where  the  executioners  were  waiting, 
and  axes  prepared ;  then  the  procession  went,  according  to  custom, 
to  wait  on  the  Capitol  in  tlie  temple  of  Jupiter  till  a  lictor  should 
bring  the  news  that  the  barbarians  were  despatched.  Then 
Marcellus  intoned  the  hymn  of  praise,  and  the  sacrifice  was  over. 
Before  leaving  the  Capitol  the  triumpher  with  his  own  hands 
planted  his  trophy  in  the  precincts  of  the  temple.  The  rest  of 
the  day  passed  in  rejoicings  and  festivities,  and  on  the  morrow 
perhaps  some  orator  of  the  Senate  or  people  again  began  the 
customary    declamations    against    that    Gallic    race    which    must    be 

exterminated,    because    it    butchered   its 
prisoners  and  offered  the  blood  of  men 


to   its   sods 


"  1 


MARCELLUS    AT    THE    TEMPLE    OF 
JUPITER    FEBETRIUS." 


Marcellus  had  promised  on  his  vic- 
tory to  raise  a  temple  to  Honor  and 
Courage.  The  pontiffs  refused  to  unite 
the  two  deities  in  the  same  sanctu- 
ary. "  Should  the  lightning  fall  there,"  said  they,  "  or  should 
some  prodigy  be  manifested,  it  would  be  difficult  to  make  the 
expiations,  because  it  would  not  be  known  to  which  god  to  offer 
the  sacrifice,  and  the  rites  do  not  permit  to  immolate  the  same 
victim  to  two  deities."  Marcellus  dedicated  the  temple  to 
Honor,  and  lauilt  another  to  Courage,  which  his  son  dedicated 
seventeen  years  later.^ 

The  defeat  of  the  Insubres  advanced  the  conquest  of  Cis- 
alpine Gaul.  In  order  to  consolidate  their  power  there,  the  Senate, 
in  218,  sent  two  colonies,  each  of  six  thousand  Roman  families, 
to  Cremona  and  Placentia ;  they  were  to  guard  the  line  of  the 
Po,  already  defended  by  Tannetum,  Clastidium,  and  Modena.     The 

1  Amedce  Thierry,  Hist,  des  Gaulois,  i.  257. 

'  MARCELLINVS.  Head  of  ]\Iarcellus.  Behind,  the  triqucira  (see  p.  110,  note  2). 
On  the  reverse,  MARCELLVS  COS.  QVINQ.  (consul  for  the  fiftli  time) ;  Marcellus  bearing 
a  trophy  to  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Feretrius.     Silver  denarius  of  the  Claudian  family. 

^  Livy,  xxvii.  25,  and  xxix.  1 1. 


CONQUESTS   OF   ROME   AND   OF   CARTHAGE. 


603 


HONOR    AND 
VIRTUE.-' 


military  road   commenced  by   the  censor  Flaminins,   leading  across 

the  Apennines  from  Rome  as  far  as  the  middle  of  the  country  of 

tlie  Senones,  was  continued  in  order  to  connect  these 

advanced  posts  with  the   great    place  of   Ariminum.^ 

Thus   the  Roman  sway  drew  near  the  Alps,  —  "that 

bulwark  raised  by  a  divine  hand."  says  Cicero,  "  for 

the  defence  of    Italy,"  —  and    the    plough    was   about 

to    finish   the  work  of  the    sword    in  Cisalpine  Gaul, 

when  the  arrival  of  Hannibal  put  a  stop  to  everything. 

In  221  the  Romans  had  also  occupied  Istria ;  there  they  were 
masters  of  one  of  the  gates  of  Italy,  and  they  estal)lislied  them- 
selves on  the  north  of  Macedonia,  which  they 
already  menaced  on  the  side  of  Illyria. 

Since  the  defeat  of  Pyrrhus  they  had 
maintained  friendly  relations  with  the  kings 
of  Egypt.  The  latter  naturally  drew  near 
a  people  who  might  some  day  become  a 
formidable  adversary  to  the  enemies  that  the 

Ptolemies  had  in  Greece.  After  the  First  ptoi.emy  m.,  euergetes.^ 
Punic    War    Euergetes    renewed    the    alliance 

that  his  father  had  concluded  with  Rome.  The  Senate  offered  him 
troops  as  auxiliaries  against  Antiochus  of  Syria.*  He  refused  them, 
but  remained  faithful  to  his  friendship  with  the  Romans. 


II.   Carthage  :   War  of  the  Mercenaries  ;   Conquest 

OF  Spain. 


During  these  twenty-three  years  so  well  employed  by  Rome, 
Carthage  had  also  extended  her  empire ;  but  only  after  having 
passed  through  a  crisis  which  nearly  destroyed  her,  and  which  gave 
her  constitution  a  lasting  shock. 

1  Strabo  (v.  217)  attributes  to  Aemilius,  who  was  consul  in  187,  the  Aemilian  Way, 
wliich  led  from  Ariminum  to  Bononia  and  Aquileia,  going  round  the  marshes,  and  following 
the  foot  of  the  A1])S. 

^  no.  VTE.  Laurel-crowned  head  of  Honor,  with  the  helmoted  head  of  Virtue  (^''alor)  ; 
beneath,  the  word  KALENI,  the  surname  of  the  Trufian  family,  who  had  this  silver  coin 
struck. 

^  Bust  of  Ptolemy  Euergetes,  with  a  sceptre  and  the  aegis.     From  a  gold  tetradrachma. 

*  Zonar.,  viii.  6 ;  Eutrop.,  iii.  1. 


604  .  THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 

When  Amilcar  signed  the  peace  with  Lutatius,  there  were 
in  Sicily  twenty  thousand  mercenaries,  who  had  long  been  paid 
with  nothing  l3ut  words.  When  the  war  was  ended  they  claimed 
the  execution  of  these  promises  and  their  pay.  Gisco,  the  governor 
of  Lilybaeum,  sent  them  back  to  Carthage  by  detachments,  in  order 
to  give  the  Senate  time  to  satisfy  or  disperse  them.  But  the 
treasury  was  empty.  All  were  allowed  to  arrive,  and  when  they 
were  assembled  the  distress  of  the  Republic  was  pictured  to  them, 
and  an  appeal  was  made  to  their  disinterestedness ;  yet  gold  and 
silver  shone  on  all  sides  in  this  opulent  metropolis  of  Africa.  The 
mercenaries  began  to  pay  themselves  with  their  own  hands.  The 
Senate  feared  a  pillage ;  they  ordered  the  officers  to  lead  the  army 
to  Sicca,  giving  each  soldier  a  piece  of  gold  for  the  most  pressing 
needs.  The  Carthaginians  might  have  detained  their  women  and 
children  as  hostages ;  but  they  sent  them  away,  that  these  foreigners 
might  not  be  tempted  to  come  back  in  search  of  them.  Then, 
closing  their  gates,  they  believed  themselves  to  be  sheltered  from 
all  anger  behind  their  high  Avails. 

The  mercenaries,  says  Polybius,  whose  account  we  are  abridging, 
met  at  Sicca.  For  such  troops  idleness  is  an  evil  counsellor.  They 
began  to  reckon  and  to  exaggerate  what  was  owing  to  them,  and 
what  had  been  promised  them  in  hours  of  danger ;  and  in  those 
greedy  souls  there  sprang  up  vast  desires. 

Hanno  was  sent  to  them ;  who,  instead  of  bringing  gold,  asked 
for  sacrifices,  speaking  humbly  of  the  destitution  of  the  Republic. 
Citizens  might  have  understood  this  language.  The  mercenaries 
grew  irritated,  and  sedition  broke  out.  First  the  men  of  each  nation 
gathered  together,  then  all  the  nations  united.  They  could  not 
understand  each  other,  but  they  all  agreed  in  hurling  a  thousand 
imprecations.  Hanno  essayed  to  speak  to  the  soldiers  through  their 
leaders ;  the  leaders  repeated  quite  different  things  from  what  was 
said  to  them,  and  the  anger  of  the  crowd  increased.  "  Why,  too," 
asked  the  mercenaries,  "  had  there  been  sent  them,  instead  of  the 
generals  who  had  seen  them  at  work,  and  who  knew  what  was 
due  to  them,  Hanno,  who  knew  nothing  about  them  ? "  They 
struck  their  camp,  marched  upon  Carthage,  and  stopped  at  a 
hundred  and  twenty  stadia  from  the  town,  at  the  place  called 
Tunis. 


CONQUESTS   OF   KOME   AND   OF   CAETIIAGE. 


605 


Carthage  had  neither  soldiers  to  drive  off  these  barbarians,  nor 
hostages  to  stay  them.  She  tried  to  appease  them ;  she  sent  them 
provisions,  the  price  of  whicli  tlicy  tliemselves  fixed,  and  deputies 
who  promised  tliat  all  they  might  demand  should  be  granted. 
These  proofs  of  cowardice  increased  their  boldness.  They  had  lield 
tlieir  own  against  the  Romans  in  Sicily :  who  then  would  dare  to 
look  them  in  the  face  ?  Certainly  not  the  Carthaginians.  .  .  .  And 
every  day  they  invented  new  demands,  laying  claims,  besides  their 
pay,  to  the  price  of  then-  horses 
that  had  been  killed,  and  requir- 
ing that  they  should  be  paid  for 
the  provisions  owing  to  them  at  the 
exorbitant  price  they  had  reached 
durmg  the  war.  To  put  an  end 
to  this,  Gisco,  one  of  their  generals 
in  Sicily,  was  sent  to  them,  who 
had  always  had  their  interests  at 
heart,  and  who  came  with  a  large 
quantity  of  gold.  He  took  the 
leaders  aside,  and  then  assembled 
each  nation  separately  to  give 
them  their  pay.  An  arrangement 
was  almost  arrived  at ;  but  there 
was  in  the  army  a  certain  Spen- 
dius,  a  Campanian,  formerly  a  slave 
at  Rome,  who  feared  lest  he  should 
be  delivered  up  to  his  master,  and 
an  African  named  Matho,  the  prin- 
cipal author  of  these  troubles ;  they 
both  expected,  if  an  agreement  was  made,  to  pay  for  all.  Matho 
pointed  out  to  the  Libyans  that  when  the  other  nations  were 
gone  away,  Carthage  would  let  all  the  weight  of  her  wrath  fall 
on  them,  and  chastise  them  m  such  a  manner  as  to  frighten  their 
compatriots.      A    great    agitation    followed    this    discourse,  and  as 


CARTHAGINIAN    W.VERIOR  (?).' 


'  Bearded  warrior,  standintr,  clad  in  a  cuirass,  found  in  Sicily  in  1762.  He  held  in  his 
right  hand  a  sword,  of  which  only  the  hilt  remains.  Caylus  calls  it  a  Cai-thaghiian 
soldier.  Statuette  in  bronze,  5  inches  in  height.  Cabinet  de  France:  No.  2,976  in  Cha- 
bouillet's   catalogue. 


606  THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 

Gisco  put  off  till  another  time  the  payment  for  provisions  and 
horses,  the  Libyans  assembled  tumultuously.  They  would  hear 
only  Spendius  and  Matho ;  if  any  other  orator  attempted  to  speak, 
he  was  immediately  stoned.  A  single  word  was  understood  by 
all  these  barbarians :  Strike !  As  soon  as  any  one  said  Strike ! 
they  all  struck,  and  so  quickly,  that  it  was  impossible  to  escape. 
Many  soldiers,  and  even  leaders,  thus  perished ;  and  at  length 
Spendius  and  Matho  were  chosen  generals. 

Gisco  knew  that  if  once  these  ferocious  beasts  were  let  loose, 
Carthage  woiild  be  lost.  At  the  peril  of  his  life  he  remained  in 
the  camp,  trying  to  bring  back  the  leaders  to  reason.  But  one 
day,  when  the  Africans,  who  had  not  received  their  pay,  insolently 
demanded  it,  he  told  them  to  address  themselves  to  Matho.  At 
these  words  they  fell  ujson  the  money,  seized  Gisco  and  his  com- 
panions, and  loaded  them  with  chains. 

Carthage  was  in  terror.  All  bruised  and  bleeding  yet  from 
her  defeats  in  Sicily,  she  had  hoped,  when  peace  was  once  made 
with  Rome,  for  a  little  rest  and  safety,  and  here  was  a  war 
breaking  out  more  terrible  than  ever ;  for  it  was  no  longer  a 
c|uestion  of  Sicily,  but  of  the  safety  and  even  the  existence  of  the 
country.  She  had  neither  army  nor  fleet ;  her  granaries  were 
empty,  her  treasury  exhausted,  her  allies  indifferent  or  hostile. 
Her  sway  over  the  nations  of  Africa  had  been  cruel.  In  the  last 
war  she  had  exacted  from  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  half 
their  incomes,  and  doubled  the  taxes  in  the  towns ;  Leptis  Parva 
owed  her  a  talent  a  day.  The  poorest  could  hope  for  neither  grace 
nor  mercy  from  the  Carthaginian  governors ;  for  to  be  popular  at 
Carthage  it  was  necessary  to  be  pitiless  towards  her  subjects,  and 
extract  large  sums  of  money  from  them. 

Accordingly,  as  soon  as  Matho  had  stirred  up  the  towns  of 
Africa  to  revolt,  the  very  women,  who  had  so  often  seen  their 
husbands  and  kindred  dragged  to  prison  for  the  payment  of  the 
tax,  swore  among  themselves  to  hide  none  of  their  effects ;  they 
gave  all  they  had  in  the  way  of  furniture  and  ornaments,  and 
money  abounded  in  the  camp  of  the  mercenaries.  Their  troops 
were  augmented  by  numerous  auxiliaries,  the  army  rose  to  seventy 
thousand  men,  with  whom  they  laid  siege  to  Utica  and  Hippo, 
the  only  two  towns  which  had  not  responded  to  their  appeal. 


CONQUESTS   OF   KOME   AND    OF   CARTHAGE.  607 

The  Carthaginians  at  first  confided  the  conduct  of  the  war 
to  Hanno ;  but  he  twice  let  slip  an  occasion  to  destroy  the  enemy. 
Aniilcar  was  put  in  his  place.  With  ten  thousand  men  and  seventy- 
five  elephants  he  managed  to  make  the  mercenaries  raise  the  siege 
of  Utica,  free  the  approaches  of  Carthage,  and  gain  a  second  battle 
against  Spendius.  Then  the  Numidians  went  over  to  him,  he  found 
himself  master  of  the  country,  and  the  mercenaries  began  to  lack 
provisions.  At  the  same  time  he  showed  much  mildness  with 
regard  to  his  prisoners.  The  chiefs  feared  defections  ;  in  order  to 
prevent  them,  they  assembled  the  army,  and  brought  forward  a 
man  who  they  pretended  had  just  arrived  from  Sardinia  with 
a  letter,  in  which  their  friends  invited  them  to  keep  a  close  watch 
upon  Gisco  and  the  other  prisoners,  to  mistrust  the  secret  practices 
going  on  in  the  camp  in  favor  of  the  Carthaginians.  Spendius 
then  addressed  them,  pointing  out  the  perfidious  mildness  of  Amil- 
car,  and  the  danger  of  sending  back  Gisco.  He  was  still  speaking, 
when  a  fresh  messenger,  who  said  he  had  arrived  from  Tunis,- 
brought  another  letter  in  similar  terms  to  the  first.  Autaritus, 
chief  of  the  Gauls,  declared  that  there  was  no  safety  except  in  a 
rupture  beyond  reparation  with  the  Carthaginians,  that  all  those 
who  spoke  otherwise  were  traitors,  and  that  in  order  to  avoid  all 
agreement  it  was  necessary  to  slay  Gisco  and  the  other  prisoners. 
.  .  .  This  Autaritus  had  the  advantage  of  speaking  Phoenician, 
and  thus  makmg  himself  understood  by  the  greatest  number ;  for 
the  length  of  the  war  gradually  made  Phoenician  the  common 
language,  and  the  soldiers  generally  saluted  in  that  langviage. 

After  Autaritus,  men  of  every  nation  spoke  who  had  obligations 
towards  Gisco,  and  who  demanded  that  he  should  l^e  at  least 
spared  torture  ;  as  they  all  spoke  together,  and  each  in  his  own 
language,  nothing  they  said  could  be  understood  ;  but  as  soon  as 
it  was  perceived  what  they  wished  to  say,  and  some  one  cried, 
Kill !  kill !  these  unhappy  intercessors  were  struck  down  with 
stones.  Then  Gisco  was  taken  with  his  companions,  to  the  nmnber 
of  seven  hundred ;  they  were  led  out  of  the  camp,  their  hands  and 
ears  cut  off,  their  legs  broken,  and  they  were  thrown  alive  into 
a  ditch.  When  Aniilcar  sent  to  demand  at  least  their  corpses, 
the  barbarians  declared  that  the  deputies  should  be  treated  in  the 
same    manner,    and    proclaimed    as    law   that    every   Carthaginian 


608     .  THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 

prisoner  sliould  perisli  by  torture,  and  that  every  ally  of  Carthage 
should  be  sent  back  with  his  hands  cut  off ;  and  this  law  was 
rigorously  observed.  Amilcar  in  reprisal  threw  all  his  prisoners 
before  the  elephants. 

The  affairs  of  the  Carthaginians  were  assuming  a  favorable 
aspect,  when  sudden  reverses  threw  them  back  into  their  earlier 
state.  Sardinia  revolted ;  a  tempest  sank  a  great  convoy  of  pro- 
visions ;  Hippo  and  Utica  revolted  and  murdered  their  gar- 
risons ;  and  Matho  already  dreamt  of  leading  his  mercenaries  to 
the  foot  of  the  walls  of  Carthage.  But  Hiero,  whom  the  final 
victory  of  this  barbarian  army  would  have  menaced,  afforded  all 
the  help  that  the  Carthaginians  demanded ;  even  Rome  [now] 
showed  herself  favorable.  The  Senate  restored  what  remained  of 
the  prisoners  taken  in  Sicily,  allowed  Italian  merchants  to  bear 
them  provisions,  and  refused  the  offer  of  the  inhabitants  of  Utica 
to  sive  themselves  to  the  Romans.  A  second  time  Amilcar  drove 
the  mercenaries  from  the  neighborhood  of  Carthage,  and,  with 
his  Numidian  cavalry,  forced  them  into  the  mountains,  where  he 
succeeded  in  enclosing  one  of  their  two  armies  in  the  defiles  of 
the  Axe.  There,  unable  to  fight  or  flee,  they  found  themselves 
reduced  to  eating  one  another.  The  prisoners  and  slaves  went 
first ;  when  this  resource  failed,  Spendius,  Autaritus,  and  the  other 
leaders,  threatened  by  the  multitude,  were  obliged  to  ask  for  a 
safe-conduct  to  go  in  search  of  Amilcar.  He  did  not  refuse  it, 
and  made  an  agreement  with  them  that,  with  the  exception  of  ten 
men  whom  he  should  choose,  he  would  send  away  the  others, 
leaving  each  of  them  a  coat.  When  the  treaty  was  concluded, 
Amilcar  said  to  the  envoys  :  "  Yoic  arc  among  the  ten  ! "  and  he 
detained  them.  The  mercenaries,  on  learning  the  arrest  of  their 
leaders,  thought  they  were  betrayed,  and  rushed  to  arms ;  they 
were  so  surrounded,  that  of  forty  thousand  not  one  escaped. 
Meanwhile  Matho,  who  was  besieged  in  Tunis,  offered  an  ener- 
getic resistance ;  in  a  sortie  he  captured  Hannibal,  the  colleague 
of  Amilcar,  and  bound  him  to  the  cross  of  Spendius.  Thirty 
of  the  principal  Carthaginians  perished  in  fearful  tortures ;  but, 
being  drawn  into  the  level  coimtry,  he  was  overcome  in  a  great 
battle,  led  to  Carthage,  and  given  up  to  the  people  for  their 
sport. 


CONQUESTS   OF   ROME   AND    OF   CARTHAGE.  609 

The  inexpiable  war,  as  it  was  called,  had  lasted  three  years  and 
four  months.  "  I  know  not,"  says  Polybius,  "  that  in  any  other 
barbarity  and  impiety  have  been  carried  so  far."  Man  had  fallen, 
as  he  often  does,  below  the  wild  beast,  which  kills  to  live,  but 
does  not  torture. 

In  a  commercial  republic  which  allows  itself  to  be  drawn 
into  long  wars,  there  is  necessarily  formed  a  military  party,  whose 
importance  grows  with  their  services,  and  who  end  liy  sacrificing 
the  liberties  of  the  country  to  their  chief.  Thus  perished  the 
Dutch  repiiblic,^  thus  Carthage  was  to  end.  Moreover,  a  con- 
stitution must  be  firmly  rooted  in  a  country,  not  to  be  shaken  by 
an  unsuccessful  war.  The  Carthaginian  oligarchy  bore  the  penalty 
of  the  disasters  of  the  First  Punic  War,  and  the  necessity  of  arming 
the  citizens  to  resist  the  mercenaries  had  still  further  enfeebled  it, 
by  strengthening  the  popular  element.  If  the  inner  life  of  Carthage 
were  better  kno'mi  to  us,  we  should  find  therein  some  curious 
revelations  about  the  two  great  parties  which  divided  it,  and  of 
which  historians  scarcely  give  us  a  glimpse.  Perhaps  Hanno  and 
his  friends,  who  are  represented  to  us  as  sold  to  Rome,  or  basely 
jealous  of  Amilcar  and  his  son,  would  appear  as  citizens  justly 
alarmed  at  the  growing  favor  among  the  populace  and  soldiers  of 
a  family,  which  appeared  to  be  invested  by  hereditary  right  with 
the  command  of  the  armies,  and  who  threatened  Carthage  with  a 
military  dictatorship.  In  the  First  Punic  War  Amilcar  had  rendered 
immense  services  ;  yet  Hanno  was  appointed  against  the  mercenaries. 
When  his  incapacity  had  obliged  the  Senate  to  yield  Amilcar  to 
the  desires  of  the  army,  another  Hanno  was  appointed  as  his 
colleague.  But  the  soldiers  drove  liim  away,^  and  Amilcar 
replaced  him  by  a  general  called  Hannibal,  and  probably  of  his 
faction.  When  he  was  dead  the  Senate  hastened  to  send  Hanno 
again,  with  thirty  senators,  to  reconcile  the  two  leaders,  and  keep 
watch  over  Amilcar.  The  hero  was  compelled  to  share  with 
his  rival  the  glory  of  terminating  this  war.  The  savior  of  Car- 
thage deserved    brilliant  rewards ;    he  was  humiliated   by  shamefiil 

*  Hannibal  was  the  future  statholder  of  Carthage ;  the  Ilannos  were  its  Do  Witts.  It 
was  the  same  at  Syracuse,  in  all  the  Greek  republics  of  Sicily,  and  in  all  those  of  Italy  in  the 
Middle  Ages. 

^  Polyb.,  i.  82  .  .  .  BcipKa?  hk  jrapoKa^av  'AyvL^av  toi'  trrpaTrjyov  .  .  .  ejrd  tov  "^Avtfuiva  to 
oTpaTOTreSov  tKpiv€  8elv  aTraKkdrrecrdai. 

VOL.  I.  39 


610     .  THE   PUNIC.  WAES   FKOM   264   TO   201. 

accusations.^  The  army  and  the  people  were  for  him ;  but,  either 
through  patriotism,  or  a  consciousness  of  the  strength  which  the 
party  which  insulted  him  still  retained,  or  a  desire  to  increase  his 
renown  and  the  influence  of  his  party  by  fresh  victories,  he  allowed 
himself  to  be  exiled  with  his  victorious  troops,  and  set  out  to 
subdue  for  Carthage  the  coasts  of  Africa  and  Spain.  This  conquest 
would,  it  was  thought,  be  a  compensation  for  the  loss  of  Corsica 
and    Sardinia.^ 

Amilcar  spent  there  nine  years,  during  which,  says  Poly- 
bius,  he  subdvied  a  great  number  of  nations  by  arms  and  by 
treaties,  till  he  perished  m  a  battle  against  the  Lusitanians,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Guadiana.  The  booty  won  in  Spain  had  served  to 
buy  the  people  and  a  part  of  the  Senate.^  The  Barcine  faction 
increased ;  and  as  its  principal  support  was  in  the  people,  it 
favored  the  encroachments  of  the  popular  assembly,  which  by 
degrees  came  to  jireponderate  in  the  Government.*  Accordingly, 
Hasdrubal,  the  son-in-law  of  Amilcar,  and  favorite  of  the  people 
at  Carthage,  succeeded  to  his  father-in-law's  command,  in  spite  of 
the  Senate.^  He  continued  his  conquests  with  an  army  of  fifty-six 
thousand  soldiers  and  two  hundred  elephants,  pushed  on  as  far 
as  the  Ebro,  where  the  Romans,  frightened  at  his  progress,  stopped 
him  by  a  treaty  (227)  ;  and,  in  order  to  consolidate  his  power, 
founded  Carthagena  "^  in  a  well-chosen  position,  in  the  middle  of 
the  Spanish  coast,  facing  Africa,  at  a  large  harbor,  and  near  mines 
which  daily  yielded  him  300  pounds'  weight  of  silver.  Immense 
works  made  a  great  town  of  it  in  a  few  years ;  it  was,  as  it  were, 
the  capital  of  the  future  states  of  the  Barcine  house.'' 

1  Corn.  Nepos,  Amilcar. 

2  According  to  Appian,  lie  set  out,  in  spite  of  the  Senate,  for  Spain,  where  Carthage 
already  had  some  possessions  and  commercial  relations. 

*  .  .  .  pecunia  totam  locupletavit  Ajricam.     (Corn.  Nep.,  Amilcar,  4.) 

*  .  .  .  Ttfv  7r\ci(m;ii  bvvap.iv  iv  rots  dia^ovXiots  .  .  .  6  Srjfios  ^8t)  /ifreiXiy^ft  (Polyb.,  vi.  51  ;  cf. 
Appian,  vi.  5 ;  see  p.  526).  The  First  Punic  War,  by  staying  the  course  of  emigration,  which 
periodically  removed  a  part  of  the  poor  from  the  towns,  augmented  the  influence  of  the  people. 

'  Factionis  Barcinae  opibu-t,  quae  apud  militcs  plehemque  plus  quam  moilicae  erant,  baud  sane 
ijoluniate  principum,  in  imperio  potitus.  (Livy,  xxi.  2.)  According  to  Cornelius  Nepos  (^Amil- 
car, 3)  :  largitione  vetustos  pervertit  mores. 

^  Gades  was  the  Phoenician  capital  of  Spain ;  but  the  Barcas  desired  a  new  town.  Gades, 
moreover,  occupied  too  eccentric  a  position,  and  preserved  the  bitter  regret  of  its  indepen- 
dence, which  Hasdrubal  had  suppressed. 

'  rianno,  in  opposing  himself  to  Hannibal's  being  sent  to  Hasdrubal,  said  :  An  hoc  timemus, 
ne  .  .  .  niinis  sero  imperia  immodica  et  reyni  paterni  speciem  videat  .  .  .f     And  he  adds   in 


CONQUESTS  OF  liOME  AND   OF   CARTHAGE.  611 

Hasdrubal  was,  however,  assassinated  by  a  Gallic  sLive,  who 
avenged  on  him  the  death  of  his  master,  slain  by  treason.  The 
soldiers  elected  in  his  place  Hannibal,  the  son  of  their  ancient 
commander,  \vho  had  fought  in  their  ranks  for  three  years.  The 
people  confirmed,^  and  the  Senate  accepted  the  new  king.  Spain 
and  the  army  were,  in  fact,  no  longer  anything  but  a  heritage 
of  the  Barcas.^ 

Su(;h  was,  in  219,  the  situation  at  Carthage.  Everything 
announced  a  coming  transformation  in  that  ancient  repulalic.  But 
Hannibal,  hke  Caesar  two  centuries  later,  needed  soldiers  and 
victories  to  enable  him  to  re-enter  his  fatherland  as  its  master. 
Caesar  won  the  dictatorship  in  Gaul;  Hannibal  sought  it  in  this 
Second  Punic  War,  which  his  father  had  bequeathed  him. 

speaking  of  Amilcar :  cujus  rei/is  .  .  .  ;  and  of  the  army:  hereddarii  excrcitus  .  .  .  (Livy, 
xxi.  3.)  These  speeches  of  Ilanno  are  made  by  Livy,  but  they  represent  the  opinion  which  the 
Romans  held,  and  whicli,  according  to  all  indications,  we  must  ourselves  hold,  of  the  ambition 
of  the  Barcas.  A  military  chief,  Malchus,  had  already  led  his  army  against  Carthage,  and 
taken  the  town,  —  without,  however,  proclaiming  himself  king.  But  he  was  condemned,  and 
put  to  death  on  the  accusation  of  having  aspired  to  the  tyranny.     (Justin.,  xviii.  7.) 

"  Poly  bins.  iii.  13. 

2  The  historian  Fabius,  a  contemporary  of  Amilcar  and  senator  of  Rome,  expressly  said 
that  Hasdrubal,  after  having  tried  to  seize  the  tyranny  of  Carthage  :  .  .  .  eis  fiovapxia"  irfpicrrfja-ai 
TO  noXiTfviJia  Tuv  Kapxqhovlav,  had  behaved  in  Spain  as  if  the  country  belonged  to  him  :  .  .  . 
ra  Kara  ttjv  lj3epiav  x^tpi^etv  Kara  rtju  avrov  Trpomp^aiv,  ov  npoa^xovra  rat  trvvc^plci  twu  Kapx^ 
Soi/iiov.  (Polyb.,  iii.  8.)  Polybins  himself  says  (x.  10)  of  Hasdrubal,  that  he  had  built  a  kingly 
palace  at  Carthageua:  jiaaiKeia  KaTiaKdaarat.  itoKyTtKas,  a  ipamv  .  .  .  vroirjo-ai,  p.ouapxi-K'is 
op€y6p.£fQV  i^ovaias. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

INTEENAL  STATE  OF  EOME  IN  THE  INTEEVAL  BETWEEN  THE  TWO  PUNIO 

WAES. 

I.   Commencement  of  Roman  Literature  ;  Popular  Games 

AND  Festivals. 

TO  furnish  Italy  with  her  natural  adjuncts,  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and 
Corsica,  and  make  these  islands  the  outposts  of  the  new 
Empire,  to  protect  her  commerce  against  the  pirates  of  lUyria, 
her  quiet  and  fortune  against  the  land-pirates  settled  in  Cisalpine 
Gaul,  Rome  had  fought  numerous  battles  and  set  immortal  lessons 
of  perseverance.  From  these  terrible  struggles  she  had  issued 
with  an  assurance  of  her  own  strength  and  of  the  fidelity  of  her 
subjects  :  this  is  the  golden  age  of  her  republican  existence.^ 

Meanwhile,  since  the  Samnite  War,  everything,  —  manners,  re- 
ligion, and  political  organization,  —  had  made  a  step  in  advance. 
The  riches  found  in  the  pillage  of  industrious  commercial  cities, 
the  tribute  paid  by  Sicily  and  Carthage,  the  ideas  acquired  by 
contact  with  so  many  men  and  things,  produced  novelties  to  which 
the  Romans  insensibly  grew  accustomed.  In  less  than  three 
quarters  of  a  century  Rome  is  no  longer  in  Rome.  Let  us  follow 
these  slow  infiltrations  of  foreign  ideas  and  customs,  which  are 
about  to  modify  so  profoundly  the  Latmo-Sabine  society  of  early 
times.  In  the  study  of  these  inevitable  transformations  lies  the 
interest  and  profit  of  history. 

The  Latin  language,  that  sonorous  but  imperfect  instrument, 
preserved   the    commanding    majesty   which   is    so   clearly    marked 

^  Polybius  says  of  this  government  (vi.  57)  :  'Hr  koi  KaXKiarov  koI  rtXeiov  e'v  tois  'Ai'viffiaKois 
Katpots. 


INTERNAL   STATE   OF   ROME. 


613 


in  the  Twelve  Tables,  and  which,  after  the  flowing  eloquence  of 
Cicero  and  Livy,  it  again  resumes  in  the  masculine  terseness  of 
Tacitus  and  the  great  lawyers  of  the  Empire.  It  w^as  always  unfit 
for  the  rendering  of  abstract  ideas,  —  which,  indeed,  this  people  did 
not  possess ;  Aristotle  and  Plato  would  have  found  difficulty  in 
using   it. 

By  the  very  fact  of  being  used,  however,  it  grew  more 
supple,  and  lost  its  asperities.  In  the  Forum  and  in  the  Curia 
Rome  had  orators  of  note.  In  the 
camp,  and  even  on  the  field  of  battle, 
generals  harangued  their  troops  to  con- 
vince before  commanding  them.^  And 
it  could  not  be  otherwise  in  a  i-e- 
publican  state,  in  which  speech  is  as 
powerful  as  the  sword  in  the  good 
and  evil  it  can  eiiect.  Eloquence  had 
even  its  tutelary  god.  Mercury,  whose 
statue,  erected  in  the  public  place  of 
the  towns,  there  presided  at  once  over 
commerce  and  deliberations. 

The  custom  of  funeral  orations 
was  very  ancient.  We  have  cited  a 
fragment  of  that  which  Q.  Metellus 
consecrated  to  the  victor  of  Panor- 
mus.^  It  is  a  fashion  w'hich  rises 
rapidly  to  perfection ;  in  the  following 
generation  Q.  Fabius  pronounced  be- 
fore  all   the    people  over  the    bier  of 

his  son  a  harangue  which  Plutarch  ventures  to  compare  with  those 
of    Thucydides. 

Another  branch  of  literatiu'e  also  commenced,  which  develops 
till    it   becomes    one    of    the    jDurest    glories    of    Rome.      The    first 

1  [It  is,  however,  certain  tliat  tlie  great  majority,  if  not  all,  the  speeches  of  this  kind 
reported  in  our  Roman  histories  arc  the  invention  of  rhetorical  liistorians  copying  the  fashions 
of  Oreek  historiography.  The  whole  tenor  of  Roman  military  discipline  seems  foreign  to  such 
speech-making.  —  Ed.~\ 

^  Life  of  Fahiu!<,  initio. 

'  Mercury,  with  the  travelling  cap  and  winged  shoes,  holding  a  purse  in  hi.s  right  hand  and 
his  eaduceus  in  his  left.  Bronze  figure  found  at  Aries.  See,  p.  196,  the  Jlereury  Agoreus  of 
Praeneste.     Collection  of  the  Cabinet  de  France,  No.  'i.OOe  in  Chabouillet's  catalogue. 


.MERCURY.' 


614  THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM  264   TO   201. 

plebeian  higli  pontiff  (254),  Coruncanius,  had  just  opened  a  school 
of  jurisprudence,^  that  is  to  say,  for  explaining  the  law  to  all  who 
presented  themselves,  instead  of  admitting,  like  his  predecessors, 
only  those  patricians  who  counted  upon  canvassing  for  a  place  in 
the  college  of  pontiffs.  These  schools  multiplied,  and  therein  was 
formed  the  only  science  which  the  Romans  created,  —  jurispru- 
dence. 

Oral  tradition  preserved  many  things,  but  intellectual  needs 
were  so  limited  that  the  recitals  of  the  atrium  and  the  hearth  ^ 
sufficed  for  a  curiosity  which  was  seldom  stimulated. 
Rome  existed  for  five  hundred  years  without  making 
a  book  or  a  poem,  or  even  one  of  those  soldier-songs, 
one  of  those  warrior  lays,  which  are  found  among  all 
COIN  OF  F.  nations.  The  first  play  of  Livius  Andronicus,  the 
Tarentine,  who  had  been  set  free  by  a  man  of  consular 
rank,  was  represented  in  240,  at  the  celebration  of  the  Roman 
games ;  that  of  the  Campanian  Naevius  appears  to  belong  to  231  ; 
and  in  the  interval  l)etween  the  two  Punic  wars,  Fabius  Pictor 
began  his  books  of  Annals.*  They  opened  with  the  arrival  of 
Aeneas  in  Latium,  and  the  soldier  of  Thrasimene  continued  them 
down   to   the    events   which  he  himself   had   witnessed.^     Polybius, 

1  Dig.  i.  2,  8,  §  35. 

"^  Cato,  however,  says  that  the  guests  used  to  sing  in  round,  to  the  sound  of  flutes,  the  ex- 
ploits and  virtues  of  their  ancestors.  (Cic,  Tusc.  iv.  2,  and  Val.  Max.,  II.  i.  10.)  Horace  bears 
witness  that  this  was  an  ancient  custom,  more  palrum  (^Carm.  IV.  xv.  26-3.3).  Tliere  were 
also  Neniae,  or  funeral  wailings.  But  tradition,  usually  so  tenacious  in  preserving  popular 
songs,  has  retained  nothing  of  these  rude  poems  of  Rome,  which  leads  us  to  think  that  they 
never  stirred  the  national  spirit  very  deeply. 

*  On  the  obverse,  a  head  of  Pallas,  wliich  we  do  not  give.  On  the  reverse,  Rome  holding 
an  apex  and  a  spear ;  behind  her,  a  shield,  with  the  word  QUIRINUS,  and  the  legend, 
FABIUS  PICTOR.  It  is  not  certain  that  this  coin  is  our  historian's ;  it  belongs  at  least  to 
some  one  of  his  family. 

*  After  the  battle  of  Cannae,  F.  Pictor  was  sent  to  Delphi  to  consult  the  oracle  of  Apollo. 
Polybius  calls  him  a  senator. 

^  About  the  time  of  Pyrrhus  the  belief  in  the  Trojan  origin  of  Rome  was  already  estab- 
lished, and  at  the  end  of  the  First  Punic  War  the  Romans  claimed,  on  the  strength  of  it,  a  right 
to  intervene  in  Greece  in  favor  of  the  Acarnanians.  (Dionys.,  i.  52  ;  Just.,  xxviii.  1.)  Naevius, 
Ennius,  and  Fabius  Pictor  had  no  doubt  about  it.  On  a  box  lately  found  at  Praeneste,  with  all 
its  contents,  an  Italian  artist,  inspired  by  Greek  art,  has  depicted  this  legend  and  the  combats  of 
Turnus  and  Aeneas,  a  century  and  a  half  before  Vergil.  As  the  upper  part  of  the  cist  no  longer 
exists,  only  one  half  of  the  fight  and  the  combatants  is  seen  (see  p.  480) ;  but  the  lid  repre- 
sents the  last  scene.  Aeneas  had  demanded  the  hand  of  Lavinia,  the  daughter  of  Latimus  and 
Amata,  but  the  latter,  who  had  promised  her  to  Turnus,  refuses.  Aeneas  wounds  Turnus 
mortally ;  Amata  kills  herself ;  and  Lavinia  marries  Aeneas,  who  makes  peace  with  Latinus. 


o 

H 


O 

3 


INTERNAL   STATE   OF   EOME.  617 

\A\y,  Dioiiysius  of  ILilicaniassus,  and  Dion  Cas.sius  made  much 
of  his  work,  which  was  lacking  in  ai't,  but  in  which  a  vast 
r[uantity  of  precious  information  on  tlu;  subject  of  institutions  was 
found.  He  wrote  it  in  Greek,  in  contempt  for  the  vulgar  idiom. 
It  is  believed,  however,  that  lie  made  a  Latin  translation  of  it.^ 

It  is  not  our  duty  to  study  these  early  writings  more  closely  ; 
literary  history  is  only  of  interest  here  as  an  expression  of  the 
state  of  mind  and  manners.  It  will  be  sixfficient  to  remark  that 
the  period  at  which  we  have  now  arrived  is  that  in  which,  under 
the  influence  of  the  great  events  which  take  place,  and  by  the  in- 
fluence of  Greece,  which  gradually  gains  ground,  Latin  genius  is 
at  last  awakina;  to  intellectual  things. 

Why  this  long  slumber,  and  why  these  beghmings  of  litera- 
ture due  to  foreigners  ?  It  is  because  this  people  loves  above  all 
things  strength  and  practical  talent,  and  that,  having  no  leaning 
towards  the  ideal,  nor  the  imagination  which  leads  thereto,  they 
only  see  the  reality  of  things,  and  know  not  how  to  clothe  it  in 
graceful  fictions.  They  will  have  none  of  the  art  of  Aeschylus  or 
Sophocles  and  the  religious  terrors  of  the  Athenian  theatre ;  they 
are  only  moved  in  the  face  of  real  pangs,  of  life-blood  issuing 
from  deadly  wounds.  Were  the  comedies  of  Menander  offered 
them  they  would  hasten  away  to  the  floral  games  and  the  Atellane 
farces,  to  coarseness  and  obscenity.  What  the  Greeks  told  with 
poetic  anger  or  enveloped  in  a  religious  myth  they  would  put  in 
action  on  the  stage,  —  Leda,  for  instance,  and  the  swan,  or  Pasiphae, 
who  was  represented  in  the  theatres  of  the  Empire. 

These  are  the  last  acts  of  the  drama  represented  on  the  lid.  Aeneas  has  the  body  of  Turnus 
borne  before  Latinus  ;  on  the  other  side,  Amata,  in  despair,  flies  to  i)ut  herself  to  death,  whilst 
Lavinia  refuses  to  follow  her.  The  third  woman  represented  is  no  doubt  a  nymph,  a  sibyl,  or 
some  other  fortune-telling  female,  an  interpreter  and  revealer  of  future  destinies.  Latinus  is 
taking  Aeneas'  hand,  and  with  the  other  swearing  peace,  while  his  feet  trample  on  arms  and 
shields.  The  two  winged  figures  are  Sleep  and  Death,  or  genii  represented  by  an  artist 
who  no  longer  understands  the  old  theology,  or,  perhaps,  the  Dirae  of  Vergil  (Aen.  xii.  845), 
"  daughters  of  dark  night."  Both  are  of  the  male  sex.  One  is  about  to  carry  off  Turnus  ;  the 
other  still  slumbers,  but  will  awake  when  Amata  has  accomplished  her  design.  The  figures 
placed  below  the  principal  scene  do  not  enter  into  its  action.  One  is  a  cor])ulent  Silenus;  the 
other,  the  River  Numioius ;  the  female  is  the  fountain  of  Juturna,  sad  at  losing  itself  in  the 
deep  river  (Vergil,  ibid.  xii.  885-886)  :  — 

Caput  fflauco  contexit  amictu, 
Afulta  gemens  tt  sejluvio  dea  condidit  alto. 
II.  Brunn  (Ann.  du  Bull,  arche'ul.,  1864,  p.  367)  fixes  the  date  of  this  cist  in  the  sixth  century 
of  Rome,  about  the  end  of  the  Second  Punic  War,  or  shortly  afterward. 

^  Cf.  Peter,  Rell.  Hist.  Rom.  p.  Ixxvi,  who  refers  the  Latin  history  to  a  later  Fabius. 


618 


THE   PUNIC   WAKS   FROM  264  TO  201. 


The  Romans  certainly  had  many  very  solemn  festivals,  and  in 
their  religious  processions  choirs  of  boys  and  maidens  sang  pious 
hymns  that  every  ear  might  hear.  Livy  mentions  several  of 
them,^  and  Catullus  has  preserved  us  one,  —  which  is,  however,  the 
poet's  own  [adapted  from  Sappho]. 

"We  who  have  vowed  ourselves  to  the  worship  of  Diana, 
maidens  and  boys  of  pure  hearts,  we  celebrate  her  praises. 

"  0  mighty  daughter  of  Jupiter !  Thou  who  reignest  over 
the  mountain  and  the  green  forests,  the  mysterious  groves  and  re- 
sounding billows ; 

"Thou   whom    women    invoke    in    the    pangs    of    labor;    thou, 

too,  mighty  Hecate,  to  whom  the  sun 
lends  his  light ; 

"  Who  in  thy  monthly  course 
tracest  the  circle  of  the  year,  and 
fillest  with  an  abundant  harvest  the 
barn  of  the  rustic  husbandman ; 

"  0  most  holy !  By  whatever 
name  it  may  please  thee  to  be  in- 
voked, be,  as  thou  ever  wast,  helpful 
to  the  ancient  race  of  Romulus."  * 
But  these  people,  who  were  so  pious  and  habitually  grave, 
were  at  the  same  time  very  coarse.  They  loved  at  once  the  solemn 
and  the  grotesque.  Amid  the  triumphal  pomp  which  we  picture 
to  ourselves,  with  the  trif)le  majesty  of  the  Senate,  the  people,  and 
the  army,  advancing  between  two  rows  of  temples  towards  the 
Capitol  of  the  hundred  steps,  there  marched  gigantic  dancing 
figures  and  masks,  Lamiae  with  pointed  teeth,  a  kind  of  vam- 
pire, out  of  which  were  taken  alive  the  children  whom  they 
had  devoured,*  and  Manducus,  a  colossal  bogy,  which  advanced 
"  with  large,  broad,  and  horrible  jaws,  well  provided  with  teeth, 
above  as  well  as  below,  which  by  means  of  a  little  hidden 
cord   were    made    to    click    one    against    the    other    in    a   terrible 

1  Livins  Andronicus  composed  one,  P.  Lioinius  Tegula  another,  at  tlie  commencement  of 
the  war  against  Macedonia  in  200,  to  avert  evil  presages.     (Livy,  xxxi.  12.) 

^  Diana,  or  the  moon,  in  a  car,  drawn  by  two  horses,  which  she  herself  drives.  The  god- 
dess has  her  hair  bound  up  with  a  diadem,  and  is  clad  in  a  long  robe.  Cameo  in  the  Cabinet  de 
France. 

*  Carm.  xxxi  v. 

*  .  .  .  pransae  Lamiae  vivmn  pueriim  extrahat  alvo.     (Hor.,  Ars  Poet.  340.) 


DIANA,    OR    THE    MOON.^ 


INTERNAL   STATE   OF  KOME. 


61!) 


manner." '  The  monstrous  machines  made  the  children  cry,  the 
women  shriek,  and  the  men  laugh,  and  the  feast  was  complete. 
We  like  the  soldier  who,  behind  the  triumphal  car,  makes  his 
general  pay  with  keen  sarcasms  the  ransom  of  his  glory,  and  wlio, 
in    order  to   be    more   free    in    his    railina;  verse,    hides   himself   in 


COMIC    SCENE.* 

a  buck's  skin  and  covers  his  head  with  a  tuft  of  bristly  fur.'' 
We  love,  too,  to  hear  the  slave  appointed  to  hold  the  golden 
crown  over  the  triumpher's  head  murmur  in  his  ear,  "  Remember 
that  thou  art  a  man."  *  But  Petreia,  the  drunken  old  woman 
who  leads  the  procession,  is  only  disgusting;  and  the  remarks 
which  Citeria,  the  gossip  with  the  sharp  tongue,  throws  at  the 
spectators  as  she  passes,  would  not  amuse  us.^ 


1  Rabelais,  Pantagruel,  iv.  59. 

*  Taken,  as  is  also  the  engraving  on  the  following  page,  from  two  Etrusoan  vases.     {Atlas 
du  Bull.  arche'oL,  vol.  vi.-vii.  pi.  34.) 

'  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus,  vii.  74. 

*  Tertull.,  Apol.  33. 

^  Festus,  s.  V.     These  two  women  were  two  masks.     We  know  that  each  great  town  in 
Italy  has  still  its  own,  —  PulcineUo  at  Naples  ;   Pasquino  at  Rome ;   Stenterello  at  Florence ; 


620 


THE   PUNIC  WARS   FEOM   264   TO   201. 


They  afforded  great  amusement  to  the  Romans,  who,  the 
moment  they  ceased  to  be  serious,  desired  coarse  laughter,  sharp 
words,  and  biting  epigrams.  The  refined  Horace  dislil^ed  these 
bold  and  ribald  improvisations,  which,  expressed  in  the  freest  of 
verse,  the  Saturnian,  assumed  an  appearance  of  literature,  —  a  very 
low  literature,  it  is  true,  but  so  national  in  Italy  that  it  is  still 
the  delight  of  the  masses,  sometimes  even  that  of  men  of  letters. 
"  The  husbandmen  of  former  times,"   says  he,   "  robust  and  easily 


COMIC    SCENE. 


contented,  recreated  themselves,  when  the  harvest  was  gathered, 
by  feasts.  With  their  slaves,  children,  and  wives  they  offered 
a  hog  to  the  earth,  milk  to  Silvanus,  and  flowers  and  wine  to 
the  genius  of  the  hearth.  The  Fescennine  license  springing  from 
these  festivals  poured  out  its  rustic  sarcasms  in  dialogue.  At 
first  it  was  only  a  gay  pastime ;  but  this  jesting  ended  by  becoming 
spiteful,  and  assailed  the  most  honorable  families.  Those  whom 
this  cruel  tooth  had  wounded  obtained  the  passing  of  the  law^ 
which  forbade,  under  pain  of  chastisement,  any  personal  attack. 
The    custom   was    changed   for   fear   of    the    rod."  ^      But    the   rod 

Arlequino  at  Bergamo  ;  Pantalone  at  Venice,  etc.  We  have  seen,  on  p.  437,  that  the  Tubicines 
on  certain  days  ran  througli  the  streets  in  all  sorts  of  costumes,  even  in  women's  clothes,  utter- 
ing a  thousand  buffooneries,  —  such,  no  doubt,  as  are  still  heard  during  the  Roman  carnival. 
Cf.  Censor,  De  Die  Nat.  12,  1. 

I  In  the  Twelve  Tables.  • 

^  Horace,  Ep.  II.  i.  139,  seq. 


INTEEISrAL   STATE   OF   ROME. 


621 


was  not  always  called   in.     In   fact,  when  Pasquino,  who  is  so  old 
at  Rome,  reformed,  the  nobility  perhajjs  gained  by  it,  but  not   the 
public  taste ;    for  centuries,  maidens,  on  the  day 
of    their   espousals,    had    to    listen   to  Fesceunine 
verses. 

The  inhabitants  of  Atella,  in  Campania,  took 
pleasure  in  coarse  farces,  lazzi  and  grimaces, 
blows  and  kicks,  very  vulgar,  and  sometimes 
very  acute,  jokes,  allusions  to  the  events  of  the 
day,  and  domestic  mishaps,  —  the  whole  sphere, 
in  short,  of  the  Comniedia  clelT  arte  of  modern 
Italians,  the  hero  of  which,  "  the  very  sprightly 
Signor  Pulcinella,"  is  descended  in  a  direct  line 
from  Maccus,  the  jolly  gossip  of  ancient  Cam- 
pania. AVhen  the  jesters  of  Atella,  who  travelled 
through  Italy,  arrived  at  Rome,  Roman  gravity 
unbent  so  far  that  the  citizens,  Avho  left  the 
representation  of  the  serious  plays  of  Livius  Andronicus  to  actors, 
played  in  masks  the  Fabulae  Atellanae,  in  which  everything  was 


ATELLANE    PERSONAGES.'' 


laughed  at.     "It  was  settled,"  says  Livy,  "that  a  man  might  play 
in  them  without  being  excluded  from  his  tribe  or  the  legions."  ^ 

^  Maccus,  or  tlie  ancient  Punch.  Mask  with  an  enormous  crooked  nose,  and  wearing 
a  sort  of  cap.  Bronze  figure  from  the  Cabinet  de  France,  No.  3,096,  in  the  Chabouillet 
catalogue. 

^  See,  in  the  Diet,  de.i  Antiq.  grecques  el  rom.,  figures  593-597,  and  on  p.  513  and  the 
following  ones,  M.  Boissier's  article,  Atellanae  fabulae. 

5  vii.  2. 


622  THE  PUNIC    WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 

The  grand  period  of  the  AteUane  farces  comes  later  than  the 
time  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  but  the  personages  already 
had  their  traditional  costnme  and  character.  Maccus  was  the  good- 
for-nothmg,  whom  his  gluttony  and  luxury  were  always  getting 
into  scrapes ;  Bucco,  the  parasite,  the  impudent  and  clever 
glutton,  who  always  managed  to  find  a  dinner ;  Pappus,  the  old 
^ssfgr%  miser,    in    search    of    his   wife    and    his    money, 

JC^'*?^^.  which    he    had    been    robbed    of;    and   Dossennus, 

'  ^^^^  a  philosopher,  who  afforded  great  laughter  by  the 

V- "^  ij^Sk  f^  contrast  between  his  conduct  and  his  speeches. 
W'>^'^^^  Fescennine  verse  and  Atellane  farces  mingled  in 
%^'-''MW]  ^'^^^  scenic  games.     In   364  a  pestilence  desolated 

Y^^h^^^mE'  Rome.     They   had    recourse     to    the    gods,    who 

ralfKj®  turned  a  deaf  ear  ;    then  to  the  Etruscans,  who 

}~i^^%^9  had  the  reputation  of  being  able  to  avert  plagues. 

^wiCI^^\  They  replied  that  the  gods  would  be  satisfied  if 

^~^~"^^^^^^  they    were    honored   by   scenic   games,    and,  that 

COMIC  ACTOR.i  ^jjg  Romans  might  be  able  to  celebrate  these 
games,  they  sent  them  at  the  same  time  actors,  who  executed 
reUgious  dances  to  the  sound  of  the  flute.  As  the  pestilence  then 
ended,  the  remedy  appeared  efiicacious,  and  the  counsel  was  fol- 
lowed. Young  Romans  learned  the  dances  introduced  f rom,  Etruria, 
and  marked  the  rhythm  of  them  by  songs,  often  improvised,  which 
ended  by  being  accompanied  with  action.^  Roman  comedy  was  dis- 
covered ;  but  it  recalled  the  fact  that  it  had  sprung  from  the  plays 
of  mountebanks,  till  the  day  when  a  poet  of  genius,  Plautus,  took 
possession  of  it,  or  rather,  turned  it  into  the  streets,  by  producing 
in  the  theatre  Greek  comedy,  —  which  he  made  sufficiently  Roman 
for  us  to  find  the  manners  of  the  Romans  here  and  there. 

The  floral  games  date  from  the  present  e230ch.  They  were 
instituted  in  238  in  order  to  induce  Flora,  the  goddess  of 
Spring,  to  grant  that  all  the  flowers  wherewith  the  fields  were 
covered   on   the    days   of    her   festival^    should    bring    forth    fruit.* 

1  Figure  found  at  Rome,  No.  3,093,  in  the  Cliabouillet  catalogue. 

^  This  mixture  of  music,  words,  and  dancing  was  called  a  nalura.  The  satura,  which  must 
not  be  confounded  with  tlic  satire,  long  remained  the  true  Roman  drama.  The  actors  who 
afforded  this  diversion  were  paid  by  the  aediles. 

"  Prom  the  28th  of  Ajjril  to  the  3rd  of  May. 

*  Ut  omnia  bene  ckJJorescerent.     (Pliny,  Nat.  Hist,  xviii.  G9.) 


INTERNAL   STATE   OF    ROME. 


623 


Goddess  of  joyous  fniitfuliiess,  Flora  inspired  no  grave  thoughts ; 
her  games  were  celebrated  with  noisy  magnificence,  and  a  liberty 
which  presently  passed  into  all  license.  In  the  following  century 
the  dancing-girls  of  Flora  appear  imvoilcd  before 
the  spectators,  and  Cato  the  censor,  in  order  to 
avoid  placing  any  restraint  on  the  pleasures  of  tiie 
people,  who  would  not  dai'e  to  demand  these 
tableaux  vivants  before;  so  grave  a  personage,  leaves 
the  theatre  before  the  dancers  showed  themselves.^ 
The  postures  and  words  of  the  mimes  were  as  bad  as  the  ballet- 
dancing,  and  later  on  even  worse. 

The  festivals  of  Anna  Perenna,  the  goddess  of  life,  were  an 
occasion  for  joyous  gatherings  in  the  meadows  which  the  Til)(!r 
washes  with  his  eternal  waters  (jjereimes).  In  these  festivities,  to 
drink  till  they  lost  their  reason,  and  to  call  to  mind  in  the  freest 
verse  the  mistakes  of  Mars  in  taking  a  decrepit  goddess  for  the 
beautiful  Minerva,  were  looked  upon  as  pious  works,  and  the  care 
of  singing  this  story  fell  to  young  maidens.^ 


GENII    OF    THE   CH.\RIOT-RACES.* 


The    native   modesty    of    woman   no    doubt   protested   in    some 
cases,  but  the    ancients  understood   this   sentiment    otherwise    than 


1  Silver  i;-i)in  of  the  Servilian  family,  presenting  on  the  obverse,  to  the  right,  tlie  legend 
FLORIAL  (ia)  riUMVS  (fecit,  understood).  Head  of  Flora  crowned  with  flowers  ;  behind, 
the  liluus  or  augural  rod.  After  being  suspended  during  the  long  woes  of  the  Second  Punic 
War,  these  games  were  re-established,  after  a  bad  harvest,  in  1 73,  on  the  order  of  the  Senate, 
by  the  aedile  C.  Servilius. 

2  Val.  Max.  II.  .X.  8  ;  Mart.,  i.   pr. 
»  Ovid,  Fast.  iii.  67.'i-G76  :  — 

Nttnc  mihi,  cttr  cantent,  stiperest,  obscena  puellae, 
Dicere ;  nam  coe'unt,  certaqiie  }rrnlira  canunt. 

*  Bas-relief  in  the  Louvre,  No.  44!1,  Clarac  catalogue.  We  have  explained  on  p.  12S 
the  doctrine  of  the  genii  which  the  Romans  of  later  ages  developed.  But  in  this  bas-relief,  as 
in  many  paintings  at  Pompeii,  the  artist  has  only  employed  Cupids  for  the  object  of  a  graceful, 


624 


THE   PUNIC   WAKS   FROM  264  TO  201. 


we;  tliey  did  not  place  it  in  the  "blessed  ignorance"  of  the 
maiden,  but  in  the  fidelity  of  the  wife.  Lucretia  was  the  model  of 
matrons,  and  single  marriages  gained  the  name  of  chastity  for  the 
unioira  woman.^  The  basis  of  paganism  being  the  worship  of  life, 
to  transmit  it  became  a  duty  and  a  quasi-religious  act.  Every- 
where was  seen  the  expressive  symbol,  and  the 
allusions  made  to  it  were  listened  to  without 
virtue  being  troubled  thereby ;  as  in  the  time  of 
the  Trouveres  and  of  Rabelais,  of  Moliere  and 
La  Fontaine,  our  grandmothers  heard  many 
things  which  would  shock  us  now. 

The  great  Roman  games  were  more  ancient ; 
the  institution  of  them  was  referred  to  the  first 
Tarquin.  They  consisted  of  chariot-races  and 
pugilistic  contests,  and  were  celebrated  in  the 
Circus  Maximus,  between  the  Aventine  and  the 
Palatine,  in  honor  of  the  three  civic  deities  of 
Rome,  —  Jupiter,  Juno,  and  Minerva.  The  citi- 
zens were  present  at  them ;  but,  unlike  the 
Greeks,  did  not  descend  into  the  arena,  which 
was  given  up  to  paid  grooms  and  professional 
coachmen.^ 
-:?r_^.  ~  It    is    well    to    notice    this    origin    of    the 

VICTORIOUS  ATHLETE.' public   games    of   Rome,    which    were    all    estab- 
lished with  a  view  of  appeasing  the  gods  or  of 
gaining  their  favor ;  *   and    it  must    be   borne  in    mind,  in  order  to 
understand  how,  even  at  the  period  of  the  greatest  excesses,  they 
always  preserved  the  character  of   national  and  religious  festivals. 


theme  for  decoration.  We  recognize  the  different  details  of  the  circus,  —  the  statue  of  Diana, 
the  dolphins  half  hidden  by  one  of  the  runners,  the  boundaries,  melasque  hnilala  cupressus 
(Ovid,  Met.  X.  106),  placed  at  either  extremity  of  the  spina,  which  divided  the  circus  in  two, 
and  finally,  the  columns  supporting  the  seven  ova  which  served  to  mark  the  number  of  times 
that  the  chariots  had  made  the  circuit  of  the  spina. 

1  .  .  .   Corona  pudicitiae  honorabantur.     (Val.  Max.,  II.  i.  3.) 

^  The  citizens  only  took  part  in  the  consualia,  —  races  celebrated  in  honor  of  the  god  Cen- 
sus, who  afterward  became  the  equestrian  Neptune.  The  Equiriae  (Festus,  s.  v.  Equiria, 
and  Varro,  ih;  Ling.  Lai.  vi.  1 3)  were  probably  races  of  free  horses,  like  those  of  the  barberi 
in  the  modern  Corso. 

2  Statue  found  in  the  ruins  of  the  Forum,  Archemorium.  Louvre  Museum,  No.  702  in  the 
Chirac  catalogue. 

*  Ludorum  primum.  initium  .  .  .  procurandis  religionibus  datum.     (Livj',  vii.  3.) 


INTERNAL   STATE   OF   EOME.  625 

'"■  Varro,"  says  St.  Augustine,  "  ranks  theatrical  things  with  things 
divme."  ^ 

The  combats  of  gladiators  themselves  came  from  the  religious 
idea  that  tlie  Manes  loved  blood,  —  an  old  belief,  which  was  general 
in   ancient   times,  and  which  still  holds  amongst  l)ar- 
barous  nations.     The  Greeks,  who  immolated  captives 
and  slaves  on  the   tombs  of   their  heroes,   renounced 
that  custom,  which  they  replaced  by  sliani-fights  and 
a   warlike    dance,    the    Pyrrhic  ;    the    P^truscans    pre- 
served   it,   and  transmitted   it    to  the  Romans.      The 
first   combat   of    gladiators    seen    at    Rome   was    that      gladiatoh.^ 
which  the  two  sons  of  Brutus  gave  at  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  their 
father,  in  the  same  year  in  which  the  Punic  War  began  (204). 


II.     Changes  in  Manners,  Religion,  and  Constitution. 

Rome,  having  become  rich  and  powerful,  desired  to  beautify 
herself  without  sacrificing  too  mucli  to  the  Graces.  The  Colossus 
of  Carvilius,  the  Wolf  of  the  Capitol,'^  placed  by  the  aediles  on  the 
Palatine  Hill  near  the  Ruminal  fig-tree  in  296,  and  the  paintmgs 
of  Fabius  Pictor  in  the  Temple  of  Safety  (302),  show  that,  until 
the  Punic  wars,  art  had  remained  sacerdotal,  —  I  mean  that  it 
had  served  more  especially  for  the  ornamentation  of  temples.  The 
Romans,  who  adopted  everything  from  their  neighbors,  were  very 
slow  in  adopting  the  fair  dalliance  of  art.  They  carried  off  statues 
from  Veil,  Volsinii,  and  Syracuse,  but  they  themselves  made  none. 
When,  in  order  to  recall  patriotic  memories,  they  set  up,  in  the  fifth 
century,  the  statue  of  Hermodorus,  who  had  aided  the  decemvirs, 
with  Ills  counsel,  and  those  of  the  Roman  ambassadors  slain  at 
Fidenae,  and  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  those  of  the  augur  Navius, 
Horatius  Codes  and  of  Clelia,  of  the  kings  of  Rome  and  of  Brutus, 
Greek    or    Etruscan    artists    must   have    carved    these    images,    for 

1  De  Civ.  Dei,  iv.  1. 

2  Gladiator  {mirmiUo)  fully  armetl,  sword  in  hand,  sliicild  on  arm.  Rarely  reiircscnted  on 
intaglios.  Engraved  gem  for  the  Cabinet  de  France,  double  the  actual  size,  No.  1,876  in  the 
Chabouillet  catalogue. 

'  This  group  is  still  in  existence ;  it  is  an  Etruscan  work.  The  twins  appear  to  be  of  a 
later  date.     See  next  page. 

VOL.  I.  40 


626 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   2(J4   TO   201. 


Romulus  and  Tatius  were  represented  without  any  clothing,  as  the 
Greek  heroes  always  were. 

With  the  product  of  the  fines  the  aediles  widened  the  streets 
of  ancient  Rome,  which  were  so  narrow  that  the  vestals  and 
matrons  alone  had  the  right  to  pass  tlu-ough  them  in  chariots  to 
attend  religious  solemnities,  and,  after  the  examjole  set  by  Appius,^ 
the  bold  constructor  of  the  Appian  Way  and  of  the   first  Roman 


bUE-WOLF    OF    THE    CAPITOL. 


aqueduct,  a  part  of  the  state  resources  was  employed  in  the  com- 
pletion of  great  works  of  public  utility.  Manius  Curius  had,  after 
the  second  war  of  Pyrrhus,  constructed  a  second  aqueduct ;  and 
Flaminius,  after  the  defeat  of  the  Insubres,  commenced  a  second 
military  road,  the  via  Flaminia,  which  started  from  Rome  and 
reached  beyond  the  Apennines  to  Ariminum,  the  Adriatic,  and 
Gallia  Cisalpina,  as  the  via  Appia  would  lead  across  the  Apennines 
on  the  south  to  Beneventum,  Brundusium,  and  the  Ionian  Sea.^ 
In    time,    both    were    bordered    with    magnificent    tombs,    and    the 


1  See  p.  407. 

^  Flaminius  also  built  at  Rome  the  circus  which  bears  his  name,  and  procured  the  means 
necessar}'  for  these  great  works  by  rigorously  gathering  in  the  taxes  which  the  holders  of  state 
forests,  pasture-lands,  and  mines  owed  to  the  treasury,  and  which,  by  the  connivance  of  tlie 
Senate,  they  sometimes  forgot  to  pay. 


INTERNAL   STATE   OF   ROME.  627 

traveller  arriving  from  the  wniiling  cities  of  Campania  met  the 
great  dead  of  Rome  before  seeing  her  consuls  and  her  emperors. 
The  tomlis  of  the  Klamiuiau  Road  have  been  replaced  by  the  ])rosaic 
houses  of  the  Corso,  but  the  Appian  Way  retains  some  of  those 
upon  it  ;  and  before  these  ruins,  to  which  the  majestic  horizon 
of  the  Latin  moiuitains  forms  so  fine  a  frame,  we  forget  the 
vulgar  side  of  Rome's  manners  to  contemplate  the  solemnity  of 
her  spirit. 

The  temples  also  multiplied  ;  all  consuls  were  not  like  the 
parsimonious  Papirius,  who,  on  the  day  of  the  battle  of  Aquilonia, 
promised  Jupiter  a  cup  of  good  wine  if  the  legions  Avere  victorious, 
— "  an  offering."  says  Livy  gravely,  "  which  was  well  received  by 
the  god."  ^  Each  time  that  a  general  found  himself  in  a  difficulty 
he  promised  some  deity  to  build  him  a  sanctuary  on  condition  that 
he  gave  him  the  victory.  Rome,  the  city  of  the  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  churches,  possessed  almost  as  many  temples  when 
Jupiter  reigned  there.  The  pagans  had  enough  gods  at  theh  dis- 
position for  dedications,  and  when  any  Avere  wanting  appropriate  to 
the  cu'cumstances,  an  epithet  added  to  the  name  made  a  new  god 
of  an  old  one.  Jupiter,  Juno,  Fortune,  etc.,  had  thus  an  infinity 
of  surnames.  I  do  not  know  whether  piety  gained  much  thereby, 
but  family  vanity  found  an  advantage  in  it.  These  monuments, 
which  ceaselessly  recalled  the  glory  of  those  who  had  raised  them, 
prepared  favorable  elections  for  themselves  and  their  children. 
When  there  were  no  longer  any  comitia  at  Rome,  to  decorate  one's 
town  with  a  temple  or  a  divine  image  was  still,  in  the  towns  of 
the  Upper  Empire,  the  surest  means  of  gaining  public  favor. 

Private  individuals  sought  for  themselves  that  luxury  which  was 
formerly  only  displayed  for  the  gods.  Greek  art  gained  entrance  into 
Rome,  where  it  decorated  the  vast  tomb  which  the  Scipios  had  raised 
to  themselves,  and  some  houses,  says  Florus,  already  showed  gold, 
purple,  statiies,  and  all  the  refinements  of  the  luxury  of  Tarentum. 
The  words  temples  and  statues  must  not,  however,  give  us  the 
idea  of  a  town  in  which  civilization  had  already  obtained  its 
citizenship.       In   the   first    place,    there    never   was    a   Roman    art, 

1  Td  votum  diis  cordi  fiiil  (x.  42).  Papirius  judged  of  Jupiter's  tastes  by  his  own  ;  he  was 
accused  of  loving  wine;  and  Livy  says  of  liim:  .  .  .  fcrunt  cibi  vinique  capacissimum  (ix.  16; 
Dion.,  fr.  92). 


628  THE   PUNIC   WAES   FROM   264   TO   201. 


SUN-DIAL   OR    ASTROLOGICAL    ALTAR    OF    GABII.*      (MUSEUM    OF    THE    LOUVRE.) 

altliougli    there    were,    at    a    later    date,    magnificent    monuments 
inspired   by   the    genius   of   Rome.      It   is   a    singular   thing    that 

^  A  monument  unique  of  its  kind,  found  at  Gabii  in  1792.     It  is  composed  of  two  inde- 
pendent parts,  —  first,  a.  patella  (liollow  plate),  around  wliieli  are  carved  the  heads  of  the  twelve 


INTERNAL   STATE    OF   ROME.  629 

Cliristian  Rome  was  no  more  fruitful  in  artists ;  ^  but  in  them 
both  what  statesmen  !  But  certain  facts  still  prove  great*  want  of 
cultivation.  The  .introduction  into  Rome,  about  the  year  300,  of 
tlie  custom  which  the  Grec^ks  had  of  sliaving  their  beards  has  no 
significance.  But  we  see  Papirius  Cursor  shortly  afterwards  bring 
1)ack  thither  as  a  triumplial  object  a  sun-dial,  which  he  placed  on 
tlie  walls  of  the  temple  of  Quirimis.^  It  was  much  admired  there. 
Unfortunately  this  solarium,  not  having  been  constructed  for  the 
latitude  of  Rome,  did  not  mark  the  true  hour,  and  it  was  half 
a  century  before  they  could  make  a  more  exact  one.  They  waited 
still  longer,  until  the  year  159,  to  have  a  public  clepsydra  [water 
clock],  which  marked  the  hour  by  night  as  well  as  by  day.^  In  219 
a  Greek  doctor  named  Archagathos  came  and  settled  at  Rome.  At 
first  he  was  welcomed  there,  received  the  citizenship,  and  induced 
the  Senate  to  buy  him  with  the  pul^lic  money  a  house,  in  which  he 
could  treat  the  sick  and  dress  their  wounds.  He  was  only  applied 
to  in  cases  of  fracture  or  sores,  for  internal  maladies  belonged  to 
the  province  of  the  quacks  and  the  gods.  Accordingly  he  was 
called  vulnerarius,  the  doctor  for  wounds.  For  some  time  he  was 
the  fashion ;  then,  as  his  therapeutics  consisted  chiefly  in  burn- 
ing the  sores  and  cutting  off  broken  limbs,  he  was  at  last  set 
down  as  a  butchei",  and  the  whole  town  declared  doctors  useless. 
This  was  the  opinion  of  Cato  the  Elder,  who  believed  in  old 
women's  remedies,  and  has  left  us  a  number  of  recipes  that  our 
latest  village  sorcerers  would  not  have  disowned.  In  his  advices  to 
his  son  he  says :  "  The  Greek  race  is  very  vicious ;  and,  believe 
this  as  the  voice  of  an  oracle,  with  its  literature  it  will  spoil  every- 
thing at  Rome :  it  will  l)e  far  worse  still  if  it  sends  us  its 
doctors.    ^  They   have    sworn    among    themselves    to    kill    all    the 

deities  of  Olympus  ;  second,  this  patella  is  placed  in  the  centre  of  a  table  of  circular  form,  the 
edge  of  which  bears  the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac,  with  the  emlilem  of  the  divinity  who 
[u-esides  over  each  month  of  the  year.  The  cavity  in  the  middle  of  the  table  served  as  a  sun- 
dial; the  traces  of  the  needles  which  marked  the  hours  symbolized  by  the  twelve  divinities 
are  still  visible.  It  is  certain  that  this  monument  was  made  for  Rome,  since  the  god  Mars  is 
thereon  represented  by  a  wolf,  and  the  diameter  of  the  patella  is  a  cubitus  (17.47  inches),  a 
lloman  measure  of  length.  The  deities  are  placed  in  the  following  order :  Jupiter,  Venus, 
Mars  (hetween  Venus  and  Jlars  a  Cupid),  Diana,  Ceres,  Vesta,  Mercury,  Vulcan,  Neptune, 
Juno,  Apollo,  and  JMinerva.  See  Frohner,  Notice  de  la  sculpture  antique  du  Muse'e  national  du 
Louvre,  i.  9-14. 

'  It  has  only  produced  Giulio  Romano. 

2  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.  vii.  60.  »  Ibid,  and  Censor.,  dc  Die  nat.  23. 


630 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM  264   TO   201. 


JUNO    MOXETA/ 


barbarians  with  their  medicines ;  they  make  lis  pay  dearly  for 
obtaining  our  confidence,  and  poison  us  the  more  easily.  My  son, 
remember  that  I  forbid  thee  doctors."  "  He  thought,"  adds  Pliny, 
"  that  medical   services  ought  to  be  gratuitous ;   and  that  is  why, 

though  they  invited  Aesculapius  to  Rome, 
the  Romans  relegated  him  to  a  temple 
Ijuilt  outside  the  gates,  on  the  Tiberine 
island."  1 

Needs  were  felt  which  had  formerly 

been  unknown,  and  which   showed  that 

the    economic    conditions    of    society  were  changing.     In  268  silver 

money    had    been    coined';   in    207    gold    money   is    required.'^      The 

dictator  Furius  (350)  had  vowed  a 
temple  to  Juno  Moneta,  and  had 
built  it  on  the  Capitol,  on  the  place 
where  the  house  of  Manlius  had  been 
razed.*  During  the  war  with  Pyr- 
rhus  there  was  added  to  it  a  mint, "' 
and  "  the  good  counsellor "  became 
the  protectress  of  coiners,  —  which 
causes  no  surprise  in  a  country 
where  Jupiter  Hercius,  the  protector 
of  property,  also  took  the  surname 
of  Pecunia,  the  god  of  gain.'' 
Finally,  the  argentarii  had  long  encumbered  the  Forum ;  and, 
another  sign  of  the  times,  the  nobles  had  so  completely  forgotten 
the  ancient  prejudices  against  commerce,  that  a  law  had  just  been 


3j  ^  (S  V^tL"^ 

ARGENTARII.' 


'  Nat.  Hist.  xxix.  G-8.  The  form  of  a  vessel  had  been  given  to  that  island,  and  there  may 
still  be  seen  sculptured  on  its  stone  i:irow  the  staff  of  Aesculapius  and  the  serpent  twisted  round 
it.  As  for  the  temple,  there  were  found  in  the  ruins  a  quantity  of  hands,  feet,  etc.,  that  is  to 
say,  ex-rolo  offerings,  as  certain  of  our  churches  have. 

'  MONETA.  Head  of  Juno  Moneta.  On  the  reverse,  T.  CARISIVS.  Laurelled  coin, 
with  anvil  between  a  pair  of  pincers  and  a  hammer.     Silver  coin  of  the  C'arisian  family. 

^  Pliny,  ibid.  xx.\iii.  3.  The  silver  denarii  struck  in  "2G8  were  worth  10  ascs  of  bronze  of 
a  pound  each.     See,  pages  631  and  632,  the  series  of  gold  and  silver  coins. 

■*  Livy,  vii.  28. 

^  We  give  here  the  tables  of  the  series  of  gold  and  silver  coins  struck  .it  this  period. 

'  Bottom  of  a  painted  vase.  A  changer  seated  near  a  table  co\ered  with  pieces  of  money ; 
a  man  standing  in  front  of  him  offers  others  on  a  tray ;  behind,  bags  on  which  are  inscribed 
the  amounts  of  the  sums  they  contain. 

'  St.  Augustine,  de  Civ.  Dei,  vii.  12. 


AS    (cast). 


AS    (struck). 


SEMIS    (cast). 


SEMIS    (STKUCK). 


TKIENS    (cast). 


yuADKANs  (cast). 


OUNCE    (cast). 


quadkans  (struck). 


ounce  (struck). 


sextans  (cast). 


sextans  (struck). 


table  of  bronze  coins. 


INTERNAL  STATE   OF  ROME. 


631 


Double  (leuarius.  On  the  obverse,  double 
head,  beardless ;  on  the  reverse,  Jupiter  in  a 
quadriga,  in  the  exergue,  KOMA  in  sunk 
letters.  Value,  'iO  ases.  Double  of  the  de- 
narius (No.  .'i),  if  not  in  size,  at  least  iu 
weight. 


Double  victoriatus,  the  equivalent  of  a  dena- 
rius. Laurel-crowned  head  of  Jupiter ;  on 
the  reverse,  ROMA,  and  winged  Victory 
crowning  a  trophy.  Unique  coin  in  the 
Cabinet  de  France.  Jlean  weight  of  the 
known  victoriati,  oS  grains  troy. 


Denarius.  On  the  obverse,  Pallas  or  Rome ; 
behind,  X  (the  mark  of  the  denarius  or  ten 
ases)  ;  on  the  reverse,  the  Dioscuri  on  horse- 
back and  the  legend  ROMA.  Mean  weight, 
(jO.64  grains  troy. 


Victoriatus,  the  equivalent  of  a  quinarius, 
thus  called  on  account  of  the  figure  of 
Victory. 


Quinarius.  Head  of  Pallas ;  behind,  V  (the 
mark  of  the  quinarius,  or  five  ases)  ;  on  the 
reverse,  the  Dioscuri,  designated  by  two 
stars,  and  ROMA,  as  on  the  denarius.  The 
letter  H  is  a  mark  of  issue  or  of  the  mone- 
tary tribune.     Mean  weisrht  27.7  grains  troy. 


Demi-yictoriatus.  Laurel<Towned  head  of 
Apollo ;  on  the  reverse,  ROMA  and  the  let- 
ter D  between  Victory  and  the  trophy  she  is 
crowning.  Same  value  as  the  sesterce.  The 
victoriatus  was  coined  about  228,  the  demi- 
victoriatus  about  104  B.C. 


Sestertius.  Head  of  Pallas  and  the  mark  of 
the  sesterce  (or  two  and  a  half  uses)  HIS. 
Same  reverse  as  the  two  preceding  pieces. 


SERIES    OF    SILVER    COINS. 


632 


THE  PUNIC  WAHS  FEOM  264  TO  201. 


Golden  denarius  (aureus,  25  den.,  or  100 
sest.).  Head  of  Jupiter;  on  the  reverse, 
CN.  LENTVL.  Eagle  on  a  thunderbolt. 
Aureus  of  the  Cornelian  family,  weighing 
only  119.139  grains  troy,  whereas  an  aureus 
of  the  Cornufician  family,  a  drawing  of  which 
we  give  later  on,  weighs  122.997  grains  troy. 
The  difference  may  dejiend  upon  the  extra- 
ordinary preservation  of  the  latter. 


Golden  quinarius  or  demi-aureus.  On  the 
obverse,  a  bust  of  Victory  and  the  legend, 
C.  CAES.  Die.  TER.;  on  the  reverse,  L. 
PLAXC.  PRAEF.  VRB.  round  the  sacrifi- 
cial vase.  Golden  quinarius  of  the  Munctian 
family. 


Sixty  sestertii.  On  the  obverse,  a  head  of 
iMars  and  the  figure  VX;  on  the  reverse, 
ROMA.  Eagle  on  a  thunderbolt.  A  piece  of 
Cam]:anian  manufacture;  jjeriod  of  the  first 
workmanship  in  gold. 


Forty  sestertii.  Ilelmeted  head  of  INIars  and 
the  figure  XXXX ;  on  the  reverse,  an  eagle 
on  a  thunderbolt,  with  the  legend  ROMA. 
Also  a  piece  of  Campanian  make,  and  of  the 
same  period  as  the  preceding  one. 


Twenty  sestertii.  Mars  and  XX  (twenty)  ; 
same  emblems  and  same  origin  as  the  two 
preceding  pieces. 


SERIES    OF    GOLD    COINS. 


INTERNAL   STATE   OF   ROME. 


633 


ARGEXTAIill. 


made  to  forbid  senators  to  have  at  sea  a  sliip  of  more  than  three 
Inindred  (imphorae  in  freight.  Tliis  prohibition  served  the  purpose 
of  tlie  freednien  and  acrar'd,  who  could  then  monopolize  all  the 
commerce  of  the  Republic.  Since 
shame  had  attached  to  usury,  it 
was  they  especially  who  lived  by 
this  lucrative  trade.  Formerly  the 
indebted  proprietor  remained  in 
his  class ;  after  the  Poetelian 
law  (326)  the  creditor  had  in- 
scribed to  his  account  the  pro- 
perty which  he  had  received  as 
security,  so  that  he  gained  at  once  both  the  interest  of  his  money 
and  public  consideration,  since  his  social  condition  rose  in  proportion 
as  his  debtor's  sank.  The  great  wars  in  which  Rome  now  found 
herself  engaged  increased  the  influence  of  business  men ;  they 
instituted  themselves  army-contractors,  and  by  an  agreement  among 
themselves  formed  an  order  dreaded  even  by  the  Senate.  We  shall 
see  later  on  the  insolence  of  the  commissary,  Postumius  of  Pyrgi, 
and  the  circumspection  of  the  senators,  qui  ordincm  'puhlicanorum 
offensum  nolehant? 

Grievous  symptoms  revealed  the  dangers  to  which  the  conquest 
of  the  world  would  expose  Roman  manners.  Thirteen  senators  had 
been  degraded  by  the  censors  of  the  year  252  ;  and  a  general, 
Papirius  Matho,  to  whom  the  Senate  had  refused  an  ovation  for 
his  victories  in  Sardinia,  went  to  have  his  triumph  on  the  Alban 
Mount,  before  other  gods  than  those  of  the  Capitol.^  Some 
patricians  renounced  the  severe  formalities  of  marriage  by  con- 
farreatio  in  favor  of  the  union  concluded  by  purchase,  coemjytio ; 
it  was  in  some  sort  civil  marriage  replacing  religious  marriage. 
Valerius  Maximus  asserts  that  the  divorce  of  Carvilius  Ruga  (233) 
caused  great  indignation.  There  is  no  reason  for  seeing  in  this 
any  symptom  of  a  weakening  of  customs.  Carvilius  had  sworn 
before  the  censors   that  in  repudiating  his  sterile  wife  he  had  no 


'  Bas-relief  from  the  Vatican.  Changer  seated  behind  a  counter.  On  his  left  a  wire 
grating  very  similar  to  those  still  employed  in  establishments  of  that  kind.  On  the  right  a  heap 
of  money,  and  a  figure  carrying  a  bag. 

2   XXV.  3. 

*  Livy,  Epit.  xviii. ;  Val.  Max.  iii.  C. 


634  THE   PUNIC   WAES   FEOM   264   TO   201. 

other  motive  tlian  tliat  of  furnishing  the  Republic  with  citizens.-* 
Many  others  before  him  had  repeated  to  their  wives  the  form  of 
repudiation  :  "  Talce  what  belongs  to  thee,  and  give  up  the 
keys ;  "  for  in  a  society  in  which  the  husband  had  the  right  of 
life  and  death  over  his  wife,  he  must  necessarily  have  also  the 
right  of  divorce,  —  which,  indeed,  the  Twelve  Tables  recognized."'' 
It  was  long  after  the  period  at  which  we  have  arrived  that 
divorces,  by  their  multiplication,  introduced  disorder  into  families. 
Finally,  the  severities  of  Camillus  against  celibacy,  which  were 
renewed  by  the  censors  of  this  same  year,  were  less  a  measure 
of  moral  than  of  military  order. 

Religion  preserved  its  character  of  interested  worship.  It 
created  neither  a  Ijody  of  doctrines  nor  moral  teaching,^  and  had 
always  one  single  aim,  —  to  know  the  will  of  the  gods,  in  order  to 
try  and  bend  them.  But  since  the  auguries,  abandoned  to  the 
plebeians,  had  ceased  to  be  a  political  instrument,  they  had  lost 
much  of  their  authority.  The  gods  had  so  often  deceived  the  hopes 
of  their  worshippers,  that  some  already  doubted,  and  the  priests 
sought  to  avert  the  effects  of  this  doubt  1)y  mitigations  of  the 
ancient  severity.  The  ritual  prescribed  the  cessation  of  all  work 
on  ferial  days,  on  pain  of  profanation.  This  rigor  was  avoided 
by  clever  interpretations.  "  What  is  it  permitted  to  do  on  a 
feast-day  ? "  was  asked  of  the  high  pontiff,  Scaevola.  "  All  that 
cannot  be  neglected  without  harm."  The  pious  Vergil  says : 
"  Nothing  hinders  from  washing  the  bleating  flock  in  the  whole- 
some water  of  the  river  ; "  and  Varro  :  "  In  war  there  is  no  need 
to  make  any  distinction  between  dies  fasti  and  ncfasti."  *  In  fact 
Fabius  Cunctator  declares  that  everything  serviceable  to  the  Republic 
is  accomplished  under  good  auspices :  everything  that  is  contrary 
to  it  ^  under  evil  auspices  ;  and  Flaminius  boldly  braves  them. 

The  sig7is  had  been  a  continual  caiise  of  preoccupation  and 
terror;    Marcellus,   who   became    five    times    consul,   and   who    was 

1  Id.  ii.  1 ;  Aul.  GeU.,  iv.  3. 

^  Cic,  Phil.  u.  28.  The  Scantinian  law,  to  repress  shocking  vices,  is  of  unknown  date  : 
it  existed  in  the  time  of  Cicero  (ad  Fam.  viii.  12)  :  but  I  do  not  think  it  e.xisted  two  centuries 
earUer. 

*  Sacra  minus  ad  homines  meliores  faciendos  quam  ad  votuntatem  deorum  concdianddm 
speclabant.     (Iloltius,  Hist.  jur.  Rom.  lineam.  p.  12.) 

*  Macrob.  Saturn,  i.  16. 
^  Cic,  de  Senect.  4. 


INTERNAL   STATE   OF  EOME.  635 

then  already  augur,  once  saved  his  sacerdotal  character  by  saying: 
'•  When  I  meditate  an  enterprise,  I  close  my  litter,  so  as  not  to 
see  contrary  auspices."  ^  Tlie  theologians  of  Rome,  who  liad 
become  as  complaisant  as  others  have  been  for  us,  decided  that 
where  a  sign  had  not  been  asked  of  the  gods,  one  was  at  liberty 
to  take  no  notice  of  it;^  and  Pliny  considered  that  this  lil)erty  was 
the  greatest  favor  that  the  gods  had  granted  to  man.^  Since  the 
time  of  Pascal  we  give  a  particular  name  to  this  manner  of 
interpreting  religious  laws :  it  belongs  to  all  ages,  because  it  is 
inherent  in  human  nature. 

Certainly  many  believers  might  still  be  counted ;  the  high 
pontiff,  Metellus,  had  just  lost  his  sight  in  saving  the  Palladium 
from  the  flames,*  —  an  act  which  was,  however,  still  more  political 
than  religious.  But  what  we  wish  to  point  out  is  that  there  were 
the  incredulous,  like  that  Claudius  who  had  the  sacred  chickens 
thrown  into  the  sea,  and  his  colleague,  Junius,  who  disdained  to 
consult  them.  Ennius  dared  to  say  this  much :  "  No  doul)t  I 
believe  that  the  gods  exist,  but  they  scarcely  trouble  themselves 
about  this  world ; "  and  many  applauded.^  There  were  also  in- 
different men,  like  the  Potitii,  who  left  to  their  slaves  the  care  of 
the  sacrifices  to  Hercules,  and  the  old  rites  were  abandoned.  "  In 
the  time  of  the  Second  Punic  War,"  says  Liv}',  '•  public  or  domestic 
sacrifices  were  no  longer  performed  according  to  the  ancient  custom, 
but  only  in  foreign  fashion."  ®  As  the  old  Italiot  deities  lost  their 
credit,  piety  turned  towards  new  gods.  In  the  period  of  the 
decemvirs  Apollo,  a  Greek  divinity,  had  been  introduced  at  Rome, 
not  as  the  inspirer  of  the  Muses,  —  the  Romans  did  not  look  so 
high,  —  but  as  a  useful  god  who  kept  off  diseases.  In  429  a  temple 
was  consecrated  to  him,  on  the  occasion  of  a  pestQence  which  had 
desolated  the  city,"  and  at  the  time  of  the  greatest  perils  in  the 
Second    Punic    War,    the    surest    means    of    ruining   Hannibal    was 


1  Cic,  de  D'w.  ii.  3G.  -  Servius,  ad  Aeneid.  xii.  259. 

'  .  .  .  Quo  munere  divinae  induhjcntiae  majux  indium  est.     (Nat.  Hist,  xxviii.  4.) 

*  Livy,  Epit.  xxix. 

^  Cicero,  de  Div.  ii.  50  :  .  .  .  Magna  plausu  assentiente  populo. 

'  Livy,  XXV.  1.  In  212  the  Senate  itself  decreed  that  sacrifice  sliould  he  made  to  Apollo, 
graeco  ritu.     (Ihid.  12.)     They  sent  to  Delphi  to  consult  the  orade  several  times. 

'  Apollo  being  then  a  foreign  god,  his  temple  was  built  without  the  walls,  near  the  Car- 
mental  Gate,  as  that  of  Aesculapius  was  relegated  to  the  Tiberine  island. 


636 


THE  PUNIC  WARS  FROM  264  TO  201. 


thought  to  be  the  dedicating  of  Apollinarian  games  to  the  "  god 
who  saves,"  deus  sosjntalts.  In  293,  after  a  violent  pestilence, 
ambassadors    had    gone    to    Epidaurus   to    demand    the    serpent   of 

Aesculapius/  which  was 


at  once  both  the  image 
and  the  genius  of  the 
god  who  appeared  to  be 
incarnate  in  him.  "  Our 
vigilant  pontiffs  on  con- 
sulting the  Sibylline 
books,"  says  Valerius 
Maximus,^  "  found  that 
the  only  means  of  re- 
storing health  in  Rome 
was  to  bring  Aesculapius 
himself  from  Epidaurus. 
The  Repuljlic,  whose 
authority  was  already 
immense  throughout  the 
world,  was  persuaded 
that  she  would  obtain 
by  an  embassy  the  only 
Success   answered    this   attempt. 


PRIEST    or    AP0LL0.2 


remedy  indicated  by  the  Fates 
As  soon  as  they  arrived,  the  deputies  were  led  by  the  Epi- 
daurians  into  the  temple  of  Aesculapius,  which  is  situated  five  miles 
from  their  town,  and  invited  them  to  take  therefrom  all  that  they 
thought  would  be  useful  to  the  health  of  their  country.  The  god 
ratified  the  words  of  the  mortals ;  for  the  serpent,  which  rarely 
appeared  to   the  Epidaurians,   but  always  to    annoimce   some  good 

1  The  serpent,  whicli  silently  glides  under  tlie  grass,  and  after  its  winter  sleep  strips  off 
its  skin  to  assume  a  new  one,  was  in  the  eyes  of  the  ancients  a  wise  creature,  which  knew 
the  simples  whence  healing  juices  are  taken,  and  the  symbol  of  renewed  life  after  iUness  or 
death. 

'^  Livy,  I.  viii.  2. 

"  From  the  base  of  a  tripod  which  is  in  the  Louvre  Museum,  No.  89  in  the  Frbhner 
catalogue.  The  quindecemvirs,  sor!-/.s- /uci»nrf(>,  who  were  undoubtedly  only  raised  from  ten 
to  fifteen  by  SuUa,  were  the  priests  of  Apollo,  whose  festival  they  celebrated  from  the  4th  to 
the  15th  of  July.  They  wore  the  Greek  costume,  with  a  crown  made  of  the  foliage  of  the 
tree  sacred  to  Apollo,  the  laurel.  Each  of  them  had  in  his  house  a  bronze  tripod  on  which 
every  morning  he  burned  incense  and  called  upon  his  god.  (Servius,  ad  Acneid.  iii. 
352.) 


INTERNAL  STATE   OF  ROME. 


637 


COIN    OF    COMMODUS.' 


fortune  to  them,  and  which  they  worshipped  as  Aesculapius 
began  to  pass  through  the  most  frequented  quarters  of  the  town. 
After  having  thus  for  three  days  offered  himself  to  the  religious 
admiration  of  the  crowd,  he  directed  his  course  towards  the  Roman 
galley,  testifying  by  joyous  movements  the  desii-e  wliioh  he  had 
for  a  more  glorious  residence.  He  entered  the  vessel  in  the 
presence  of  the  affrighted  sailors,  reached 
the  cabin  of  the  ambassador,  Q.  Ogulnius, 
and,  rolling  himself  uito  numerous  folds, 
he  remained  there  in  profound  tranquil- 
lity. The  ambassadors,  having  obtained 
their  utmost  wishes,  returned  thanksgivings 
to  the  gods ;  and  after  having  learned 
the  manner  of  paying  honor  to  the  ser- 
pent, hastened  to  leave  Epidaurus.  A 
fortunate  voyage  soon  landed  them  at 
Antium.  There  the  serpent  left  the  vessel,  and  took  his  way  to- 
wards the  vestibule  of  the  temple  of  Aesculapius,  where  stood 
a  palm-tree,  the  crest  of  which  rose  majestically  above  a  Isusliy 
myrtle.  He  rolled  himself  round  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  and 
remained  there  three  days,  during  which  time  food  was  brought 
to  him.  The  ambassadors  feared  that  he  would  not  again  return 
into  the  galley ;  but,  quitting  the  hospitable  lodging  of  the  temple, 
he  went  and  resumed  his  former  place,  to  be  carried  to  Rome. 
Finally,  the  deputies  had  scarcely  set  foot  on  tlie  banks  of  the 
Tiber,  when  he  swam  to  the  island,  where  a  temple  Avas  afterward 
dedicated  to  him,  and  his  arrival  removed  the  horrible  scourge 
against  which  his  aid  had  been  employed." 

On  the  island  of  the  Tiber  there  was  already  a  sanctuary  of 
Fatmus,^  who,  like  Aesculapius,  gave  oracles  by  sending  dreams ;  and 
the  oracles  of  the  ancient  Latin  deity  could  only  have  been  recipes 
for  curing  man  and  beast.  The  residence  of  the  god  of  Epidaurus 
was  thus  settled  beforehand ;  but  popular  imagination  could  not 
allow  that  he  had  entered  Rome  in  a  simple  manner ;    hence,  the 


*  This  coin  represents  the  arrival  of  Aesculapius  on  the  island  of  the  Tiber  in  the  form 
of  a  serpent. 

^  See  later  on  a  double  Hermes  in  the  Cabinet  de  France,  representing  on  one  side  the 
head  of  Faunus,  and  on  the  other  that  of  Tutanus  Mutinus. 


638  THE  PUNIC  WAES   FEOM  264  TO  201. 

marvellous  circumstances  which  we  have  just  related.  This  account 
forms  part  of  Roman  history,  and  even  of  the  history  of  the  human 
mind  ;  for  the  spectacle  of  this  strange  superstition  among  a  people 
so  Avise  in  council,  so  resolute  in  action,  who  left  nothing  to 
chance,  —  that  is  to  say,  to  the  providence  of  their  gods,  and  who 
appeared  to  demand  everything  of  them,  —  shows  that  there  is  no 
age  of  the  world  in  which  man's  mind  cannot  associate  opposites, 
—  the  most  resolute  thinking  and  most  puerile  credulity. 

The  Senate  gave  another  proof  of  this  at  the  moment  when 
there  was  about  to  take  place  the  greatest  event  in  Rome's 
history,  and  a  pledge  of  the  conquest  of  the  world.  In  203, 
on  the  eve  of  Zama  and  of  the  fall  of  Carthage,  they  sent,  by 
the  order  of  the  Sibylline  oracles,  to  seek  in  Asia  Minor  a 
Phrygian  divinity  held  in  great  renown  among  the  nations  of 
the    peninsula. 

This  singular  goddess,  difficult  to  comprehend,  who  was 
originally,  no  doubt,  a  representation  of  the  earth,  and  whom 
the  Greeks  had  made  the  mother  of  the  gods,  could  not  enter 
Rome  in  a  manner  less  miraculous  than  Aesculapius.  She  also 
received  the  honor  of  a  legend.  "  Five  of  the  noblest  persons  in 
the  Republic  being  sent  to  Delphi,  they  received  this  answer : 
'  King  Attains  will  cause  the  Romans  to  obtain  what  they  desire, 
and  the  goddess,  transported  to  Rome,  must  receive  hospitality  there 
from  the  most  virtuous  of  the  citizens ! '  The  King  of  Pergamus, 
who  was  at  war  with  Philip  of  Macedonia,  had  need  of  the  friend- 
ship of  the  Romans  ;  it  did  not  seem  to  this  sceptical  Greek  that 
he  would  pay  too  dearly  for  it  at  the  price  of  a  sacrilege,  and  he 
persuaded  the  priests  of  Pessinus  to  give  up  the  image  of  their 
divinity,  the  '  Idaean  Mother.'  "  These  priests  formed  a  rich  cor- 
poration, whose  chief  was  a  sort  of  sovereign.  But,  surrounded  by 
Gauls,  who  claimed  to  make  Pessinus  one  of  their  capitals,  they 
could  refuse  nothing  to  a  prince  who  was  himself  the  enemy  of  the 
Galatians,  and  whose  protection  was  so  necessary  to  them.  They 
gave  the  idol,  and  made  arrangements  to  persuade  the  devotees 
that  Cybele,  although  she  had  set  out  for  the  banks  of  the  Tiber, 
remamed  on  those  of  the  Sangarius. 

At  Rome  it  remained  to  appoint  the  most  virtuous  man  in 
the  Republic,  that  he  might  receive  the  goddess.     Many  competitors 


INTERNAL  STATE   OF  ROME. 


639 


CLAUDIA    DRAGGING    THE    VESSEL    OF    CYBELE 


arose ;  men  of  consular  rank,  former  dictators,  canvassed  for 
this  honor.  It  was  assigned  to  a  patrician,  Publius  Scipio,  a 
young  man  scarcely  of  the  age  for  quaestorsliip,  and  a  near  rela- 
tive of  the  general  who  had  just  now  arrived  before  Carthage, 
thus  drawing  Hannibal  away  from  Italy.  The  clever  people 
who  sat  in  the  Senate 
flattered  the  liberator  of 
Rome  by  this  choice,  and 
at  the  same  time  avoided 
giving  offence  to  those  who, 
by  reason  of  their  age 
and  dignities,  could  not 
be  jealous  of  an  entirely 
political    favor   done    to    a 


young  man  who  was  still 
in  obscurity. 

When  the  vessel  arrived  at  the  iiiouth  of  the  Tiber,  P.  Scipio 
went  on  board  and  received  the  goddess  from  the  hands  of  the 
priests.  But  the  ship  stranded  on  a  shoal,  and  all  efforts  were 
powerless  to  get  it  off  again.  One  of  the  noblest  ladies,  Claiidia 
Quinta,  whose  conduct  slander  had  attacked,  stood  forth  from 
among  the  matrons,  implored  Cybele,  and  asked  her  to  bear  witness 
to  her  virtue  by  yielding,  •'  she,  the  chaste  goddess, 
to  chaste  hands."  Claudia  tied  her  girdle  to  the  ship 
and  dragged  it  along,  and  Rome  possessed  a  titular 
divinity  and  one  more  mii'acle.  Livy  dared  not  re- 
late this  story,  which  Ovid  gives  at  full  length. 
But  Cicero,  and  even  Pliny,  believed  in  it,  and  the 
statue  of  Claudia,  which  was  placed  in  the  vestibule 
of  Cybele's  temple,  did  not  permit  a  Roman  to  doubt  it.^ 

Cybele  was  venerated  under  the  form  of  a  black  stone,  which 
was,  no    doubt,  an  aerolite,*  and   her    orgiastic   worship  contrasted 


THE    BLACK 
STONE.- 


1  Bass-relief  in  the  Pio  Clementino  Museum. 

^  Altar  on  which  is  the  Black  Stone,  surmounted  hy  a  stag's  head.     Reverse  of  a  bronze 
coin  of  Augustus,  struck  at  Pessinus. 

2  Livy,  xxix.  11  and  14  ;  Ovid,  Fa.ili,  298  .<('(/.     Cicero,  de  Ilarusp.  rep.  1,3;  Pliny,  Nal. 
Hist.  vii.  35. 

*  Aerolite,  or  thunder-stone,  as  the  Turkish  peasants  say,  who  attribute  to  meteors  healing 
virtues  in  certain  sicknesses.      The  Black  Stone  of  Pessinus  might  also  have  been  only  a  piece 


640 


THE   PUNIC   WAK8   FEOM  264  TO   201. 


strangely  with  the  gravity  of  Roman  solemnities.  Accordingly, 
although  the  Roman  Pantheon  opened  to  this  foreign  divinity,  the 
patricians  did  not  open  their  ranks  to  her  priests,  and  refused  to  be 

her  pontiffs.  A  citi- 
zen would  have  been 
dishonored  by  the 
mutilation  to  which 
the  Phrygian  Galli 
condemned  them- 
selves ;  the  latter  re- 
mained the  ministers 
of  their  divinity. 
Each  year  Cybele  took 
a  mystic  bath  at  the 
I  junction  of  the  Anio 
and  the  Tiber.  A 
priest  clothed  in  pur- 
ple washed  the  sacred 
stone  therein,  while 
the  Galli  made  a  great 
noise  with  flutes  and 
tambourines,  uttered  effeminate  shrieks,  and  scourged  themselves 
with  whips  furnished  with  knuckle-bones. 

Augustus  allowed  the  shapeless  image  of  the  Mean  Mother 
to  be  placed  upon  one  of  his  coins ;  Hadrian,  better  advised, 
borrowed  the  type  of  the  Greeks,  who  represented  the  goddess 
seated  on  a  throne  with  a  mural  crown  on  her  brow  and  lions 
couched  at  her  feet. 

After  the  Grecian  and  Phrygian  gods  came  those  of  the  Punic 


AN   ARCHI-GALLUS.' 


of  lava;  almost  the  whole  of  Phrygia  is  of  volcanic  origin.  Arnobius  (^Adi\  (jrntes,  8),  who  saw 
it,  says  that  it  was  small,  smooth,  and  of  blackish  color.  It  was  placed  before  the  mouth  of 
the  statue  of  Cybele. 

'  Bas-relief  in  the  Capitoline  Museum.  Notice  should  be  taken  of  the  effeminate  charac- 
ter of  this  priest-eunuch,  whose  ears  are  loaded  with  jjearls.  On  his  head  he  wears  three 
medals,  one  of  Idaean  Jupiter  and  two  of  Atys,  that  Phrygian  shepherd  of  matchless  beauty 
whom  Cybele  had  consecrated  to  her  worship,  and  to  whom  mythographers  have  attributed 
tragic  adventures  which  make  him  an  involuntary  hero  of  chastity.  On  the  priest's  breast 
again  is  hung  the  image  of  Atys,  with  the  Persian  mitre  on  his  head.  In  his  right  hand  he 
holds  olive-branches  ;  in  the  left,  a  basket  of  fruit,  from  which  issues  the  whip  furnished  with 
knuckle-bones ;  on  the  wall,  cymbals,  a  drum,  two  flutes,  and  the  mystic  cist. 


INTERNAL   STATE   OF   ROME.  641 

race.     In   217    the    erection   of    a  temple   to   Venus   Erycina    was 
decreed,  who  was  then  for  the  first  time  admitted  to  a  seat  among 
the  great  Latin    gods  at  the    religious  repast  of   the  leetisternium. 
This  Venus  was  the  Celestial  Virgin  of  Car- 
thage and  Tyre  ;  but  at  Cyprus  she  had   be-  xJ***\i^^v^^-^T*^ 
come    Queen    of    Paphos    and    of    Love ;    at      ff  /    /\  \KI     \  \k 
Eome.    too,   she    was    soon   made    goddess   of     ll  i     i  ljj|^ -^  \  \ 
voluptuousness.                                                            11  Ii^^aj^^Ta, -4=^  I  I 

We  have  just  spoken  of  the  leetisternium.     \/^  -^1        ^'^  JJ 

This  custom,  like  so  many  other  ancient  ones,       ^^*^- --^^^^ 

astonishes  us ;    but  by  sacrifices  the    faithful  ^^:^s£=:=*^ 

entered    into    communion    with    the    god,    to 

whom  they  offered  a  part  of  the  victim.  In  funeral  repasts  offerings 
were  made  to  the  dead ;  in  domestic  ones  libations  were  poured  out 
to  the  Lares ;  on  great  occasions  the  whole  town,  or  the  senators,  as 
its  representatives,  communed  with  the  civic  divinities  by  a  public 
feast.  It  was  a  religious  act,  and  it  was  thought  necessary  to  the 
safety  of  the  city  that  it  should  be  accomphshed.^  We  shall  again 
find  this  usage  commanded  by  religion  in  the  funeral  assemblies  of 
the  Empire  and  in  the  love-feasts  of  the  early  Christians. 

All  this  shows  that  the  religion  of  the  state  was  tottei'ing, 
and  that  the  Oriental  religions,  which  were  to  prove  fatal  to  the 
Latin  spirit,  were  already  making  an  effort  to  invade  the  city  of 
Janus.  But  the  terrors  of  the  Second  Pmiic  War  again  strength- 
ened the  ancient  worship.  The  nearer  Hannibal  approaches  to 
Eome,  the  more  do  omens  multiply,  and  the  more  does  faith  revive. 
Later  on  we  shall  see  what  victory,  safety,  and  new  spiritual 
needs  make  of  it. 

In  the  new  political  organization  a  great  change  had  also 
taken  place.  The  people  had  effaced  from  the  constitution  the 
timocratic  principle  which  Servius  had  introduced  into  it.  The 
centuries  of  knights  had  been  preserved,  but  the  classes  were 
aboUshed,  and  the  assembly  of  centuries  differed  from  the  assembly 
of  tribes  only  by  a  di\asion  which  the  hereditaiy  respect  of  all 
Romans    for    age    and   experience    imposed   {centuriae  juniorum   et 

*  Cybele  on  a  lion,  liolJing  a  sceptre  and  the  tijmpanon,  or  drum  of  the  priests.  Reverse 
of  a  bronze  coin  of  Sabina,  the  wife  of  Hadrian. 

^  'SMiTTipia  Til/  TioKeav  crivhemva.     (Athen.,  Deipnos.  v.  186  a.) 
VOL.  I.  41 


642  THE  PUNIC  WARS   FEOM  264  TO  201. 

seniorum)}      This   was   the    definite    triumph    of    the    principle    of 
equality,  in   the   name   of   which   the    tribunes  had  always  fought. 

1  The  united  texts  of  Livy,  Cicero,  and  Dionysius  unfortunately  only  throw  partial  light  on 
the  transformation  of  the  assemblies  of  centuries.  They  say  enough,  however,  to  place  it  beyond 
doubt,  (t'f.  Livy,  i.  43,  xxiv.  7,  xxvi.  22,  xxvii.  6 ;  Cie.,  de  Le(j.  atp:  ii.  2,  Pro  Plane.  20,  De 
Leg.  iii.  4,  and  every  page  of  the  Demand  of  the  cons. ;  Dionysius,  iv.  21  ;  Polybius,  vi.  4,  etc.) 
But  it  seems  that  two  attempts  were  made  to  effect  this  change.  During  the  war  with  Hanni- 
bal and  up  to  the  year  179,  —  a  time  at  which  he  speaks  of  a  great  change  in  the  suffrage,  —  Livy 
frequently  (xxiv.  7,  xxvi.  22,  xxvii.  G)  gives  to  the  centuries  the  name  of  tribes.  In  the  election 
of  211  each  tribe  ajijiears  divided  into  two  centuries,  one  oi  juniorcs,  a.n({  one  oi  scniores, — 
which  confirms  the  passage  in  Livy  (i.  43)  :  tribus  numero  earum  diiplicatn,  cenluriis  juniorum  et 
seniorum.  At  what  period  did  this  change  take  place  ?  Necessarily  after  the  Hortensian  law, 
and  according  to  Livy,  post  expletas  quinque  et  triginla  tribus.  Perhaps  in  220,  during  the 
censorship  of  Flaminius,  by  whom,  says  the  20th  Epitome,  libcrtini  in  qualuor  tribus  redacti 
sunt,  quum  antea  [since  304]  dispcrsi  per  omnes  fuissent.  All  tUc  German  writers  differ  on  this 
date,  because  they  do  not  see  that  there  might  have  been  two  changes  at  different  times. 
JVanke  gives  495  ;  Walter  and  Peter,  450  ;  Niebuhr,  305  ;  Nobbe,  288  ;  Ihne,  241 ;  Goettling 
and  Gerlaeh,  220;  Schulze,  181.  It  seems  to  me,  however,  that  we  cannot  go  far  wrong  in 
placing  this  change  in  the  interval  between  the  two  Punic  wars.  The  number  of  thirty-five 
tribes  was  only  completed  in  241,  and  in  215  centuries  of  tribes  are  already  seen.  At  this  time 
of  republican  equality,  of  poverty  and  heroism,  the  timocratic  principle  of  the  census  must 
necessarily  liave  been  effaced.  It  had  already  disappeared  from  the  legions,  whose  organization 
no  longer  depended  on  the  division  into  classes  established  by  Servius ;  the  plebeians,  who  had 
lately  won  equality  on  aU  points,  could  easily  cause  it  to  disappear  from  the  Forum  too.  More- 
over, by  the  depreciation  of  the  as,  then  reduced  to  the  sixth  of  the  value  which  it  had  still  had 
before  the  First  Punic  War  (Pliny,  Nat.  Hist,  xxxiii.  13;  Varro,  de  Re  rust.,  i.  10),  100,000 
OSes  represented  in  240  only  lU.fiGG  of  the  ancient  ones,  to  which  the  rise  in  the  price  of  com- 
modities gave  an  infinitely  smaller  value  than  in  the  time  of  Servius.  The  result  of  this  was 
that  the  same  fortune  which  under  Servius  woidd  have  admitted  a  man  into  the  fifth  class, 
raised  him  in  240  to  the  first.  In  fact,  the  classes  no  longer  existed,  since  an  immense  majority 
of  the  citizens  found  themselves  in  the  first ;  there  was,  therefore,  no  need  of  a  revolution 
to  abolish  them,  and  their  suppression  passed  unnoticed.  Without  classes  there  could  be  no 
centuries.  The  old  division,  known  and  loved  by  the  jieople,  into  juniores  and  seniores,  was, 
however,  preserved. 

But  the  dangers  of  the  Second  Punic  War  invested  the  Senate  with  a  kind  of  dictatorship, 
which  they  were  unwilling  to  give  up  after  having  exercised  it  for  fifteen  years ;  the  nobility 
was  re-organized,  acquired  confidence  in  itself,  and,  in  order  to  fortify  its  growing  power,  was 
desirous  of  re-estabUshing  the  categories  of  fortunes.  Livy  says  of  the  censors  of  the  year  1 79  : 
Mutarunt  snffragia,  retponatimque  generibus  hominum,  causis  et  quaestibus,  tribus  descripserunt 
(xl.  51)  ;  and  thenceforth  the  classes  —  which  indeed  had  always  existed  on  the  censors'  books, 
since  the  ta.x  was  proportional  to  fortune  — resumed  their  political  character.  In  169  he  speaks 
of  the  centuries  of  knights  and  of  many  centuries  of  the  first  class.  At  the  election  of 
Dolabella  Cicero  {Phil.  ii.  33)  cites  the  prerogative  century,  the  vote  of  the  first,  second,  and 
remaining  classes.  In  all  his  speeches  he  mentions  nothing  hut  classes,  though  he  looks  upon 
the  tribes  as  the  fundamental  division  of  the  Roman  people.  It  is  these  tribes  that  he  sub- 
divides into  classes  and  centuries :  censo7-es  partes  populi  in  tribus  descrihunto,  exin  pecunias, 
aevitates,  ordines  partiunto  (ile  Leg.  iii.  3)  ;  and  numerous  testimonies  confirm  these  words.  (Cf. 
Dionys.,  v.  21  ;  Sallust,  de  Ord.  rep.  ii.  8  ;  Aulus  Gellius,  vii.  13,  on  the  subject  of  the  Voconian 
law  and  the  figurative  expression,  to  belong  to  the  fifth  class,  in  Cic.,  Acad.  ii.  23.)  In  the 
two  last  centuries  of  the  Republic,  then,  the  centuries  and  classes  existed  as  they  had  formerly 
done,  and  rested  on  the  same  principle  as  the  ancient  division  of  Servius.  Dionysius  accord- 
ingly Bays :  "  The  assembly  by  centuries  is  not  destroyed,  but  modified ;  it  has  become  more 


INTERNAL  STATE   OF  ROME.  643 

The  constitution  became,  then,  more  democratic.  This  is  seen  in 
the  nomination  of  Flaminius  and  Varro,  who  were  raised  to  the 
iiighest  otiices  in  spite  of  the  Senate  and  the  omens,  and  in  that  of 
Minucius  and  of  the  adventurers  tcj  whom  the  people  intrusted 
armies  against  Hannibal.  Moreover,  tlu^  ancient  and  popular  as- 
sembly of  the  tribes  still  existed,  and  when  the  tribunes  resumed 
their  revolutionary  role,  it  served  their  designs. 

But   a    century    still    separates    us    from    the   Gracchi,  and    the 


democratic"  (iv.  21).  No  doubt  of  it,  because  there  was  no  longer  the  same  disproportion  in 
tlie  number  of  centuries  as  in  the  past.  The  passage  in  Livy  (xliii.  IG),  where  lie  only 
mentions  twelve  centuries  of  knights,  instead  of  eighteen,  would  be  a  proof  of  this. 

I  think,  then,  that  since  241  the  great  assembly  of  the  Roman  people  had  been  that  of  the 
tribes,  each  divided  into  two  centuries,  of  seniores  and  juutores;  that  in  179,  as  equality  sank 
dailv  more  out  of  sisht,  the  categories  of  fortune  were  re-established,  —  in  a  more  democratic 
form,  however,  than  by  Servius  :  these  changes  —  being,  moreover,  in  perfect  accord  with  tlie 
history  of  those  times  —  ought,  it  seems  to  me,  to  be  admitted  without  dispute.  "\\'hat  now 
follows  is  merely  hypothesis. 

Thus  each  tribe  contained  classes,  according  to  the  passage  in  Livy  for  the  year  1 79  and 
the  texts  indicated  above,  probably  five,  as  of  old,  and  as  is  expressly  stated  in  the  work  de  Orel, 
rep.  u.  8,  and  the  Academica  of  Cicero.  Each  class  was  divided  into  Juniores  and  seniores,  as 
was  each  tribe  before  179,  as  was  each  class  after  Servius,  and  as  is  proved  by  twenty  passages 
in  Cicero:  omnium  aetatim  atqiie  ordinum  (Atl.  iv.  1;  pro  Flacco,  7,  etc.).  There  were,  then, 
35  tribes,  containing  175  classes,  subdivided  into  H.5i>  centuries,  together  with  18  centuries  of 
knights.  Thus  all  the  classes  having  the  same  number  of  centuries  had  the  same  number  of 
votes.  The  small  number  of  the  wealthy  did  not  overpower  the  crowd  of  the  poor.  Moreover 
the  lot  decided  (since  C.  Gracchus)  which  should  be  the  (irerogative  century,  whose  vote,  which 
was  looked  on  as  an  omen,  was  generally  followed  by  the  others.  These  modifications,  then, 
gave,  as  Dionysius  affirms  (iv.  21),  a  more  democratic  character  to  the  assembly  of  centuries. 
Let  us  note,  however,  that  the  fate  of  an  election  or  a  law  was  really  in  the  hands  of  the  middle 
class,  who,  by  siding  below  or  above,  gave  the  majority  to  the  rich  or  the  poor.  But  the  real 
assembly  by  tribes  was  not  destroyed.  The  Gracchi  made  use  of  it  to  pass  their  laws,  in  spite 
of  the  rich.  As  for  the  census  of  each  class,  it  is  difficult  to  determine.  According  to  Livy 
(xxvi.  1)  we  might  fix  it  thus:  the  first  class,  above  1,000,000  ases ;  the  second,  from  a 
million  to  300,000 ;  the  third,  from  300,000  to  100,000  ;  the  fourth,  from  100,000  to  50,000  ;  the 
fifth,  from  50,000  to  4,000. 

These  figures  may  be  disputed,  because  our  texts  arc  deficient ;  but  the  principle  of  the 
new  organization  appears  beyond  a  doubt:  it  is  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  Roman 
constitution,  —  ne  pbrrimum  raleant  plurimi ;  that  is  to  say,  the  poor,  who  form  the  greatest  num- 
ber, must  not  have  the  preponderance.  The  tribunes,  who  now  enter  the  Senate  and  form 
part  of  the  new  nobility,  are  no  longer  party  men,  but  statesmen  :  accordingly  they  willingly 
accept  the  organization  which  prevents  Rome  becoming  a  frightful  demagogy ;  for  as  the  num- 
ber of  new  citizens  increased  daily,  it  was  necessary  to  establish  at  any  price  an  order  which 
'  would  insure  a  certain  preponderance  to  the  old  Romans.  If  the  assembly  by  centuries  had 
absorbed  the  assembly  of  tribes,  Rome  would  have  been  an  oligarchy,  suspicious  ami  tyranni- 
cal, like  Venice.  If  the  comitia  by  tribes  had  absorbed  the  comitia  by  centuries,  Rome  would 
have  been  a  senseless  democracy,  like  the  Athens  of  Cleon.  By  the  existence  of  the  two 
kinds  of  assemblies,  the  nobiUty  and  the  people,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  preserved  a  balance 
till  the  day  when  the  Empire  became  too  great,  and  it  was  necessary  to  sacrifice  liberty  to 
power. 


644  THE   PUNIC    WAKS   FROM   264   TO   201. 

aristocracy  had  advanced  so  far  in  manners,  that  even  at  the  time 
when  equahty  was  proclaimed  as  the  principle  of  Roman  society, 
a  new  nobility  rose  on  the  ruins  of  that  which  the  laws  of  Licinius, 
Publ.  Philo,  and  Hortensius  had  destroyed.  If  there  were  still  any 
patricians,  the  patriciate  no  longer  existed  as  a  political  body.  In 
the  Senate  and  in  high  offices  plebeians  were  now  more  numerous 
than  the  descendants  of  the  patrician  families.  In  205  the  two 
consuls  were  plebeians ;  but  these  new  men  had  only  entered  one 
after  another  into  the  Senate;  far  from  modifying  the  spirit  of  it, 
they  had  yielded  to  its  influence  and  accepted  that  ancient  policy 
which  kept  the  public  within  the  wise  limits  of  a  moderate 
democracy.  Community  of  interest  led  to  family  alliances,  which 
united  the  new  nobility  with  the  old ;  and  the  Roman  aristoc- 
racy found  itself  not  destroyed,  but  renewed  by  all  these  popular 
laws. 

Those  whose  ancestors  had  striven  most  vigorously  for  equality 
hastened  to  raise  a  barrier  between  themselves  and  the  people,  by 
using  the  jus  imaginum  which  every  curule  office  gave.  "  When 
some  person  of  high  rank  dies  at  Rome,"  says  Polybius,  "  he  is 
solemnly  borne  to  the  Forum  with  the  images  of  his  ancestors, 
preceded  by  the  fasces  and  axes,  and  covered  with  a  praetexta,  a 
robe  of  purple  or  gold  cloth,  according  as  he  had  held  the  consul- 
ship or  the  praetorshijj,  the  censorship,  or  had  the  triumph.  At 
the  foot  of  the  orators'  j)latform  they  are  placed  on  ivory  seats, 
and  the  son  of  the  dead  man  relates  his  exploits,  and  then  those 
of  his  ancestors.  Thus  the  reputation  of  great  citizens  is  ever 
renewed ;  their  glory  becomes  immortal,  and  the  people  cannot 
forget  it."  Tlie  cold  Polybius  himself  grows  animated  at  the 
sight.  "  It  is  the  most  exciting  scene,"  cries  he.  It  was  also 
the  surest  means  for  the  nobles  to  justify  their  ambition,  even  in 
the  eyes  of  the  people,  by  ceaselessly  reminding  them  of  their 
services.  Jealous  as  the  patriciate  had  formerly  been  of  keeping 
new  men  from  honors,  they  had  decided  since  the  First  Punic  War 
that  the  aediles,  and  not  the  treasury,  should  henceforth  bear  all 
the  expenses  of  the  public  games.  Now  it  was  necessary  to  pass 
through  the  aedileship  before  attaining  the  high  offices.  It  was 
thus  closing  the  access  to  them  aojainst  all  who  had  not  a  sufficient 
fortune  to  dare  to  canvass  for  this  onerous  magistracy. 


INTERNAL   STATE   OF   EOME.  645 

To  the  ascendency  which  fortune,  birth,  the  habit  of  command,  and 
the  exckisive  loiowledge  of  the  fornmlae  of  law '  gave  them,  there  was 
added,  for  a  great  number*,  the  patronship  of  the  allies.  Every  free 
nation  of  Italy  had  at  Rome  a  patron  who  represented  its  interests, 
and  in  case  of  need  defended  it  before  the  Senate  or  the  people. 
The  Senate  had,  it  is  true,  reserved  the  right  of  judgment  on 
differences  between  the  towns,  of  deciding  on  the  complaints  of 
citizens  against  their  city,  on  crimes  against  Rome,  on  internal 
discords,  etc. ;  Ijut,  generally  speaking,  they  left  this  care  to  the 
pati'ons,^  who  were  always  cliosen  from  influential  families.  This 
clientship  of  a  city  or  of  a  whole  people  increased  the  consideration 
and  the  power  of  the  nobles  in  a  manner  dangerous  to  liberty. 
Accordingly,  in  234:,  a  praeto7'  j>jerer7nft?/s  was  created,  who  extended 
his  jurisdiction  over  foreigners,  and  who,  bemg  placed  between 
them  and  the  nolales,  restrained  the  patronage  of  the  allies  within 
limits  in  which  it  could  only  be  useful  to  the  Republic. 

From  another  point  of  view  this  institution  had  grave  social 
consequences.  The  praetor  pererjriniis,  not  being  al)le  to  accord  to 
foreigners  the  benefits  of  the  civil  laws  of  Rome,  was  obliged  to 
seek,  among  the  I'ules  of  right  or  principles  of  natural  equity, 
common  to  many  nations,  which  constituted  a  new  juridical  domain, 
that  of  the  right  of  nations.  Thenceforth  the  jus  gentium  did  not 
cease  to  make  inroads  upon  the  jus  civile,  or  peculiar  right  of 
Rome,  the  narrow  enclosure  of  which  it  finally  carried  by  storm, 
and  with  it  fell  the  privileges  of  the  Quirites. 

Thus,  since  the  laws  of  Hortensius,  the  constitution  had  be- 
come more  democratic,  and  still  the  aristocracy  had  been  re- 
organized. The  patriciate  had  been  destroyed  as  a  privileged 
caste ;  the  nobility  was  allowed  to  continue  as  a  class  invested 
with  honorable  distinction.^  In  a  word,  the  laws  were  democratic, 
the  customs  were  not ;    and  this  contrast,  far  from  being  a  cause 


'  After  Flavius  (p.  409)  the  nobles  had  invented  new  formulae  ;  but  tliey  were  divulged 
about  200,  /us  Aemilianum.     (Pomponius,  on  the  Dig.  I.  ii.  2,  §  7.) 

-  Claudii  became  the  patrons  of  the  inhabitants  of  Messina;  Minutianus  of  fifteen  Umbrian 
tribes  ;  the  JMaroelli  of  the  Sicilians  ;  the  Fabii  of  the  Allobroges;  the  Gracchi  of  the  S])aiiiards  ; 
Cato  of  the  Capjiadocians  and  Cypriotes,  etc.  :  .  .  .  turn  pUtbem,  socios,  regna  colere  et  culi 
licilum.     (Tac,  Ann.  iii.  .55.) 

^  These  distinctions,  says  Polybius,  arc  a  great  encouragement  to  virtue  (vi.  53).  This  was 
Napoleon's  thought  when  he  destroyed  the  feudal  nobility  and  created  the  Legion  of  Honor. 


646  THE  PUNIC  WAES  FROM  264  TO  201. 

of  weakness  to  Rome,  gave  her  great  strength,  since  it  thus  united  the 
advantages  of  a  popular  government  with  those  of  an  aristocratic 
state,  without  the  inconveniences  occasioned  by  the  exclusive  pre- 
dominance of  one  or  other  of  these  political  forms.  If,  however, 
the  early  tribunes  had  been  unable  to  pluck  the  aristocracy  out 
of  the  heart  of  Roman  society  ;  if,  deserting  the  people,  they  them- 
selves had  gone  over  to  the  hostile  camp,  —  they  had  successors  in 
the  tribuneship  who  continued  their  work.  They  had  abolished 
classes,  and  had  only  left  the  nobles  that  influence  which  ever}'- 
where  attaches  to  great  names  and  to  great  fortunes.  At  the  same 
time  the  censors  had  driven  back  the  freedmen^  into  the  four  city 
tribes.  The  nobility  and  the  foreign  masses  were  thus  restrained, 
and  the  true  Roman  people  ruled  masterfully  in  the  Forum,  faithful 
to  its  gods,  its  manners,  and  its  discipline,  because  these  new  needs, 
this  growing  love  of  luxury,  this  contempt  of  ancient  customs 
and  ancient  beliefs,  which  we  have  spoken  of  above,  had  not  yet 
descended  to  the  heart  of  the  nation.  This  middle  class  which 
had  conquered  the  Samnites,  Pyrrhus,  and  Carthage,  was  still  as 
devoted,  as  brave,  and  even  as  numerous.  For  if  the  agrarian  law 
was  not  faithfully  observed,  at  least  the  watchfulness  and  the  fines 
of  the  aediles  prevented  the  concentration  of  property,  whilst  the 
distril)utions  of  land  multiplied  small  heritages  and  formed  that 
nursery  of  Roman  soldiers  whence  Rome  soon  draws  twenty-three 
legions. 

This  period  is  the  best  age  of  Roman  liberty.  But  it  must 
be  well  understood  that  this  liberty  was  not  like  that  which  we 
love ;  for  the  Roman  citizen,  whom  we  picture  to  ourselves  so 
proud  of  his  rights,  was  not  sure  of  his  social  rank,  which  at 
each  lustrum  the  censor  might  deprive  him  of  without  trial,  or 
of  the  independence  of  a  private  life  into  which  the  same  magis- 
trate penetrated,  armed  with  the  severities  of  his  irresponsible 
magistracy.      This  republican  was  the  serf  of  the  state,  and  every- 

1  Livy,  Epil.  XX.  The  wealth  amassed  by  the  aerarii,  and  their  constant  efforts  to  spread 
themselves  throiigli  all  the  tribes,  no  doubt  contributed  to  the  .abolition  of  the  classes.  Men 
saw  the  necessity  of  restricting  the  exercise  of  [lolitical  rights  to  the  plebeian  proprietors  and 
agricultors,  who  in  that  quality  were  interested  in  the  preservation  of  the  state  and  of  liberty ; 
but  the  aerarii  ceaselessly  strove  against  this  limitation,  which  was  renewed  in  vain  in  304,  in 
220,  probably  in  181,  and  in  168.  Clodius  wished  to  distribute  them  through  all  the  tribes. 
Under  Nero  they  filled  the  equestrian  order  and  the  Senate.     (Tac.,  Ann,  xiii.  26,  27.) 


INTERNAL   STATE  OF  EOME. 


647 


thing,  —  liberty,  justice,  morality,  —  yielded  at  need  to  the  maxim 
that  the  safety  of  the  state  is  the  supreme  law,  —  an  excellent 
maxim  when  the  citizen  understands  it  as  an  obligation  for  him 
to  devote  his  fortune  and  his  life  to  his  country,  but  a  maxim 
which  may  become  detestable  when  it  is  the  government  that 
decides  what  is  required  for  the  safety  of  the  state. 


CYBELE.   REVERSE  OF  A  LITTLE  BRONZE  OF  CADIZ  IN  PHRYGIA. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

THE  SECOND  PUNIO  WAK  UP  TO  THE  BATTLE  OP  OANNAE  (218-216). 

I.   Hannibal  in  Spain. 

IF  the  Senate,  in  answer  to  the  appeal  of  Utica  and  the  mercenaries 
during  the  revolt  of  the  armies  of  Carthage,  had  sent  them 
two  legions,  it  would  have  been  all  over  with  the  great  African 
city  ;  Amilcar  would  not  have  undertaken  the  conquest  of  Spain, 
Hannibal  would  not  have  attempted  that  of  Italy,  and  infinite  ills 
would  have  been  spared  to  numberless  populations.  Rome  lacked 
boldness.  It  was  not  respect  for  good  faith  which  stayed  her; 
her  priests  and  augurs  would  easily  have  found  the  means  to  set 
at  rest  a  conscience  that  was  not  over  scrupulous.  But  on  the 
morrow  of  the  Punic  War  she  had  to  bind  up  her  wounds  ;  and  as 
she  dared  not  risk  a  great  iniquity,  she  contented  herself  with  a 
small  one,  —  the  indirect  help  given  to  the  mercenaries  in  Africa 
and  the  seizure  of  Sardinia.  Amilcar  had  time  to  save  Carthage 
and  to  double  her  empire.^ 

In  the  year  218,  on  the  eve  of  the  Second  Punic  War,  the 
possessions  of  the  Carthaginians  were  dispersed  from  the  Cyrenaica 
to  the  mouths  of  the  Tagus  and  Douro,  on  a  line  of  from  eight  to 
nine  hundred  leagues,  but  narrow,  without  depth,  and  liable  at  any 
moment  to  be  cut,  either  by  the  African  nomads  in  their  rapid 
incursions,  or  by  an  enemy  who  could  always  find  means  to  land 
on  this  immense   stretch    of   coast.      The  Roman   Republic,  on  the 

1  For  the  Carthaginian  names  I  now  follow  the  usual  orthography.  If  Hannibal, 
Hasdrubal,  Amilcar  were  obscure  personages,  it  would  be  needful  to  call  them  bj-  their  true 
names,  which  are  given  in  Punic  inscriptions,  Ilannibaal,  Azroubaal,  and  Ahmilcar  or  Abmilcar, 
. —  the  Latin  form,  Amilcar,  answering  to  two  different  names,  one  of  which  signifies  brother 
(ah),  the  other  servant  (abd),  of  Melkart.  To  write  Hasdrubal  and  Hamilcar  is  a  real  mis- 
take, for  the  aspiration  in  these  two  names  is  too  feeble  to  be  marked  by  an  /( ;  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  very  strong  in  Hannibal,  which  ought  to  have  one.     (Note  by  M.  de  Saulcy.) 


THE   SECOND   PUNIC   WAR   FROM   218   TO   216.  649 

contrary,  presented  the  aspect  of  a  regularly  constituted  empire,  — 
Rome  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  peninsula ;  the  penhisnla  itself, 
protected  by  three  seas;  and,  beyond  these;  three  seas,  like  so  many 
outposts  guarding  the  approaches  of  Italy.  —  Illyria,  whence  the 
legions  kept  watch  o\er  Macedonia  and  Greece ;  Sicil}',  whence 
they  observed  Africa ;  and  Corsica  and  Sardinia,  in  the  middle  of 
the  road  to  Spain  or  Gaul,  and  commanding  the  navigation  of  the 
Tyrrhenian   Sea. 

What  added  force  to  this  rule  was  that  tlirougiiout  the  great- 
est part  of  Italy  it  was  accepted,  if  nut  witii  love,  at  least 
with  resignation.^  Poor  and  warlike  nations  prefer  to  pay  tribute 
with  blood  rather  than  with  gold ;  and  Rome  only  asked  soldiers 
of  the  Italians.  In  exchange  for  their  stormy  independence  she 
had  given  them  peace,^  which  favored  the  development  of  popida- 
tion,  agriculture,  and  commerce.  They  were  no  longer  in  dread 
lest  some  night  a  hostile  troo})  should  come  and  reap  their  fields, 
strip  their  vines  and  fruit-trees,  carry  off  their  flocks,  burn  their 
villages,  and  lead  their  women  and  children  into  slavery.  Rome 
had  put  an  end  to  these  evils  and  terrors,  which  before  her  time 
liad  been  daily  renewed  at  many  points  in  Italy.  Her  censors 
covered  the  peninsula  with  roads,  drained  the  marshes,  built  bridges 
over  the  rivers,  and  erected  temples,  porticos,  and  sewers  in  the 
Italian  cities,  so  that  Rome  was  not  the  only  one  to  benefit  by  the 
spoils  of  the  world.^     To  defend  the  coasts  against  the  descents  of 

'  lA\y  says  of  the  allies  before  Cannae:  .  .  .  juslo  d  modi-rato  rri/elmn/ur  i/ii/ierio;  nee 
ahmu'hani,  quod  unnm  rinculumjithi  est,  mcliorihux  [larrre.  (xxii.  13),  and  Pohbius,  speaking  of 
Hannibal's  ravages,  extended  as  far  as  Campania  without  a  single  town  going  over  to  him,  says : 
'E^  hv  Kai  TTapaarj^rji'aiT  av  Tts  Tijv  KaTairKr^^iv  Km  KciTa^loiaiv  napa  rols  (rvp^d^ois  tov  Viofiaiatv 
TToXiTfifiaros  (hi.  90).  See  in  T^ivy  the  conduct  of  Nai)les  and  Paestum  after  Tlirasimene;  of 
Canusium,  Venusia,  Nuocria,  and  Aeerrae  after  Cannae ;  of  Petelia,  Consentia,  and  Cortona 
after  the  defection  of  Bruttium ;  the  heroic  resistance  of  the  .soldiers  of  Praeneste  and  Perugia 
in  Casilinum,  and  the  courage  of  a  cohort  of  Pelignians,  who  were  the  first  to  enter  the  camp 
of  Ilanno.  In  Sicily  and  in  Sardinia,  when  the  praetors  demand  money  and  provisions  for  their 
soldiers,  the  Senate  rei)ly  that  they  liave  nothing  to  send  them,  and  the  allies  liasten  to  fur- 
nish all  that  is  necessary.  (I^ivy,  xxxiii.  ii.)  For  I'etelia,  compare  especially  Polybius,  vii. 
f r.  1 .  It  resisted  for  eleven  mouths,  and  the  inhabitants  ate  even  leather  and  the  bark  of  trees. 
It  was  two  scjuadrons  of  Samnites  (Livy,  xxvii.  44)  who  led  the  messengers  of  Ilasdrubal  to 
Nero,  and  that  general  in  his  march  from  Canusium  to  the  Metaurus  was  able  to  show  his 
soldiers  quo  cnncursu,  ijiid  admlralione,  quo  favore.  liominum  iter  suum  cfdehratur.  All  along 
the  route  numerous  volunteers  joined  him.  Finally,  we  know  that  an  army  and  a  fleet  were 
furnished  to  Scipio  by  the  allies. 

-  By  forbidding  wars  between  town  and  town. 

'  The  consulshi;)  of  Corn.  Cethegus  was  passed  in  draining  a  part  of  the  Pontine  nuvrshes 


650  THE   PUNIC    WAES   FKOM  264   TO   201. 

enemies  or  pirates,  the  Senate  had  lately  lined  them  with  maritime 
colonies  ;  to  protect  the  Italian  merchants  they  had  declared  war 
against  the  Illyrians  and  Carthage.'  Some  among  the  no))les  made 
a  noble  use  of  their  title  of  patrons  of  towns  to  carry  out  immense 
works  for  the  profit  of  the  allies.  Thus  Curius  had  become  the 
protector  of  Reate  by  cuttmg  a  canal  through  the  rock  of  a  moun- 
tain to  lead  into  the  Nera  the  overflow  of  Lake  Velinus.^  If 
we  still  possessed  the  second  Decade  of  Livy,  we  should  no  doubt 
find  there  many  facts  similar  to  these,  which  would  prove  that 
this  domination,  though  established  Ijy  force,  and  sometimes 
even  by  violence  and  perfidy,  was  excusalile  by  the  benefits  it 
conferred. 

The  glory  of  Rome,  moreover,  was  reflected  upon  the  Italians, 
as  that  of  Athens  and  Sparta  had  been  an  honor  to  Greece.  All, 
in  spite  of  the  differences  of  their  condition,  closed  round  her  at 
the  news  of  a  Gallic  invasion,  and  we  shall  see  the  victorious  Han- 
nibal remaining  two  years  in  the  midst  of  Italy  without  finding 
a  single  ally  there.  Time  had  cemented  the  edifice  constructed  by 
the  Senate  during  the  Samnite  war,  and  had  iinited  all  the  Italian 
nations  into  a  comjaact  and  immovable  mass.  In  the  last  countries 
subdued,  however,  there  still  lingered  among  the  populace,  whose 
patriotism  is  often  more  disinterested  than  that  of  the  great,  regrets 
for  lost  liberty.^  But  everywhere  the  nobility  had  freely  rallied 
round  the  Romans,  as  at  Volsinii,  Capua,  Nola,  Tarentum,  and  in 
Lucania ;  family  alliances  between  this  Italian  nobility  and  that  of 
Rome  drew  these  ties  closer.  At  Venice  the  nobles  of  the  Golden 
Book  scorned  those  of  the  mainland^  but  at  Rome  Ap.  Claudius  took 

.  .  .  siccatae,  agerque  ex  Us  f actus.  (Livy,  Epit.  xlvi.)  For  a  later  epoch  see  the  works  of  Aem. 
Scaurus  in  Cisalpine  Gaul  during  his  censorship  (Strabo,  V.  i.  11),  and  in  Livy  (xli.  27)  the 
long  enumeration  of  constructions  made  in  Rome  and  in  several  towns  of  Italy  by  the  censors 
of  the  year  174. 

1  During  the  war  of  the  mercenaries.  Later,  in  170,  as  Tarentum  and  Brundusium  com- 
plained of  the  Illyrian  pirates,  the  Senate  armed  a  fleet ;  they  did  the  same  for  the  Massaliotes, 
whose  commerce  was  troubled  by  the  Ligurian  pirates.     (Livy,  xl.  18.) 

^  Cic,  ad  Att.  iv.  15.  See  pages  454  and  457.  The  Romans  had  also  lowered  the  level 
of  the  Lake  of  Alba,  which  frequently  threatened  to  inundate  Latium. 

*  Unus  velut  morbus  invaserat  omnes  Italiae  civitates,  ut  plehes  ah  oplumatibux  dissentirenl 
senalus  Rornanisfaveret,  et  plebs  ad  Poenos  rem  traheret.  (Livy,  xxiv.  2.)  At  Capua,  during 
the  revolt,  it  was  men  of  the  lower  class  who  governed.  The  author  of  the  movement  was, 
it  is  true,  a  noble,  but  before  the  siege  one  hundred  and  twelve  knights  passed  over  to  the 
Romans. 


THE   SECOND    PUNIU   WAR    FKOM   218   TO    21 G. 


651 


a  Canipaiiian  for  his  son-in-law,  and  the  cx-consul   Livius   married 
the     daughter     of     a 
senator    of    Capua. ^ 

It  was  needful, 
then,  that  the  empire 
of  the  Carthaginians, 
so  colossal  in  appear- 
ance, should  rest  on 
equally  firm  supports. 
The  enormous  contri- 
butions levied  on  their 
subjects,  and  the 
atrocities  of  the  In- 
expiable War,  had 
doubtless  not  done 
much  to  reconcile 
them  with  the  Afri- 
cans. Utica,  indeed, 
and  Hippo-Zaryta  had 
been  desirous  of  giv- 
ing themselves  to  the 
Romans.  On  the 
coasts  of  Numidia 
and  Mauritania,  some 
posts,  at  great  dis- 
tances apart,  and  sur- 
rounded by  barbarians, 
were  scarcely  suffi- 
cient to  afford  aid  to 
ships  in  the  danger- 
ous crossing  from  Spain.  In  Spain  itself  the  authorit}'  of  Car- 
thage, or  rather  of  Hannibal,  was  securely  established  only  in 
Baetica.      In    the   rest  of    the   coimtry,   as   far   as   the   Ebro,   the 


VASE    OP    NOLA.* 


1  Livy,  xxiii.  4.  He  adds  for  Capua:  .  .  .  connuhium  vetustum  multas  familias  claras  ac 
polentis  Romanis  miscuerat. 

^  This  beautiful  vase  with  three  handles,  of  Nolan  manufacture,  represents  Jupiter  and 
Aegina,  painted  in  red  on  a  bla«k  ground.  Collection  of  the  Cabinet  de  France.  No.  3,330  in 
the  Chabouillet  Catalogue. 


652 


THE    PUNIC    WAES   PROM   264   TO   201. 


tribes  had  been  conquered,  but  not  subdued ;  and  the  Roman 
generals  could  make  an  appearance  there  as  liberators  of  the 
peninsula  much  more  easily  than  Hannibal  in  Italy .^ 

Hamilcar  had  brought  up  his  sons  in  hatred  of  Rome.  "  These 
are  four  lions'  whelps,"  said  he,  pointing  to  them,  "  who  will  grow 
up  for  her  ruin  ;  "   and  Hannilxxl  in  his  old  age  used  to  tell  King 

Antiochus  that  before  setting  out  for 
Spain,  his  father,  in  the  midst  of  a 
solemn  sacrifice,  had  made  him  swear 
eternal  hatred  to  the  Romans. 
"  From  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  the 
camp  of  Hasdrubal,"  says  Livy,  "  he 
drew  all  eyes  towards  him.  Old 
soldiers  thought  they  saw  Hamilcar 
in  his  youth  again  :  there  was  on  his 
face  the  same  expression  of  energy, 
the  same  fire  in  his  glance.  He 
presently  needed  no  remembrance  of 
his  father  to  gain  their  favor. 
Never  was  there  a  mmd  more  fitted 
for  two  opposite  things,  to  obey 
and  to  command  ;  so  that  it  would 
have  been  diflicult  to  decide  which 
cherished  him  more,  the  general  or 
the  army.  Hasdrubal  never  chose 
any  other  leader  when  there  was 
some  vigorous  blow  to  be  struck ;  and  under  no  other  did  the 
soldiers  show  more  confidence.  Incredibly  bold  in  confronting 
danger,  he  retained  marvellous  prudence  in  peril.  No  labor 
wearied  his  body  or  prostrated  his  spirit.  He  supported  heat  and 
cold  equally  well.  For  his  food,  he  satisfied  need,  but  never 
pleasure.  His  wakefulness  and  his  sleep  did  not  depend  upon  day 
and  night.     When  his  work  was  finished,  he  sought  repose  neither 


HANNIBAL.^ 


1  See  Polybius  (ix.  11,  and  x.  18,  35)  on  the  haughtiness  and  exactions  of  the  Carthaginian 
generals.  Hasdrubal-Giseo  had  forced  ludibiUs,  Mandonius,  and  Edeco  to  pay  hiui  great 
sums,  and  to  give  him  their  wives  and  daughters  as  hostages ;  and  these  latter  had  much  to 
complain  of  in  the  conduct  of  the  Carthaginians  towards  them. 

^  Bust  in  the  Naples  Museum.  Probably  the  only  thing  about  it  belonging  to  Hannibal 
is  the  name  it  bears. 


THE   SECOND  TUNIC   WAR  FROM  218  TO  216.  653 

on  a  soft  couch  nor  in  silence.  Often  he  was  seen,  covered  witli 
a  soldier's  cloak,  stretched  on  the  earth  between  the  advanced  sen- 
tinels or  in  the  midst  of  the  camp.  His  dress  did  not  di.stinguish 
him  from  his  companions ;  his  whole  luxury  was  in  his  horses  and 
arms.  At  once  the  best  of  horsemen  and  of  foot-soldiers,  he  went 
into  the  fray  first,  and  retired  from  it  last.  So  many  good  qualities 
were  accompanied  by  gi-eat  vices,  fierce  cruelty,  a  more  than  Punic 
perfidy,  no  frankness,  no  modesty,  no  fear  of  the  gods,  no  respect 
for  the  faith  of  an  oath,  no  religion.  With  this  mixture  of  virtues 
and  vices  he  served  three  years  mider  Hasdrubal  without  neglecting 
anything  that  a  future  general  of  the  Carthagmian  armies  ought  to 
see  and  hear."  ^ 

Livy  certainly  exaggerates  Hannibal's  vices,  and  only  puts  in 
relief  the  qualities  of  the  soldier.  The  history  of  the  Second  Punic 
War  will  show  us  the  great  captain.  Heir  of  the  ambition  of  the 
Barcas,  with  more  genius  and  boldness,  Hannibal  strove  to  create 
for  himself  at  Rome's  expense  an  empire  which  he  was  not  strong 
enough  to  create  at  the  expense  of  Carthage."  An  Italian  war 
was,  moreover,  a  glorious  means  of  putting  an  end  to  the  strife 
which  his  family  and  his  party  were  sustaining ;  and  in  spite  of 
treaties,  in  spite  of  the  cautious  part  of  the  Senate,^  he  began  it. 
He  asked  nothing  of  Carthage,  and  put  trust  only  in  himself  and  his 
own ;  then,  bringing  over  Spaniards  and  Gavils  on  his  route,  he 
crossed  the  Alps.  His  conduct  before  Saguntum ;  the  choice  of  the 
route  which  he  took,  so  as  not  to  place  himself  in  dependence  on 
the  fleets  of  Carthage ;  his  promises  to  his  troops ;  *  his  treaty  with 
Philip ;  the  forlorn  state  in  which  Carthage  left  him  after  Cannae ; 
the  almost  unlimited  power  which,  when  conquered,  he  yet  seized 
in     his   own    comitry,  —  show   his     secret     designs,    and    what    he 

1  [This  character  seems  written  by  Livy  purely  from  a  rhetorical  point  of  view,  and 
determined  simply  from  the  Roman  view  of  the  great  war.  Such  feelings  as  justice  to  a 
noble  foe,  or  real  interest  in  the  character  of  the  wonderful  Phoenician,  were  quite  foreign  to 
the  vulgar  patriotism  of  the  historian.  —  Ed.l 

-  Juccneniflagrantemcupidine  regni.     (Livy,  xxi.  10.) 

'  Fabius  said  :  oiSeva  .  .  .  a^ioKoyayv.  (Polyb.,  iii.  8.)  In  Livy  (xxx.  22)  the  ambassadors 
agreed,  after  Zama,  that  the  war  was  only  between  Rome  and  Hannibal,  and  that  Carthage  liad 
no  part  in  it.  The  Punic  wars  are  indeed  generally  a  war  of  races  ;  but  the  second  is  essentially 
the  conflict  of  Hannibal  and  Rome. 

*  See  p.  659.  As  regards  the  treaty  with  Philip,  it  stated  that  Italy  should  belong  to 
Hannibal  and  the  Carthaginians ;  to  Philip  all  the  booty. 


654  THE   PUNIC   WAES   FROM  264   TO   201. 

would  have  made  of  that  country's  liberty  had  he  returned  as 
victor.  The  Second  Punic  War  is  onty  a  duel  between  Hanni- 
bal and  Rome ;  and  in  this  assertion  we  do  not  mean  to  dimin- 
ish the  importance  of  the  struggle,  because  it  will  show  what 
strength  and  inexhaustible  resources  there  are  in  the  genius 
of  a  great  man,  as  in  the  institutions  and  manners  of  a  great 
people.^ 

Before  commencing  this  war  it  was  necessary  to  secure 
Spain.  The  South  and  East  were  subdued ;  but  the  mountaineers 
of  the  centre  and  the  upper  valley  of  the  Tagus  were  still  resist- 
ing. Hannibal  crushed  the  Olcades  in  the  valley  of  the  Xucar 
(221),  the  Vaccaeans  in  that  of  the  Douro,  and  the  Carpetani  on 
the  banks  of  the  Tagus  in  the  environs  of  Toledo  (220).  The 
Lusitanians  and  the  tribes  of  Galicia  continued  free,  and  Han- 
nibal took  care  of  wasting  against  them  his  time  and  forces.  As 
far  as  the  Ebro  Spain  seemed  submissive  ;  this  was  sufficient  for 
his  designs. 

In  the  treaty  imposed  by  Rome  on  Hasdrubal,  the  independence 
of  Saguntum  to  the  south  of  the  Ebro  had  been  formally  guaranteed. 
In  order  to  force  on  war,  Hannil^al  besieged  that  place,  which  would 
have  served  as  an  arsenal  and  a  point  of  support  to  the  legions  if 
he  had  left  them  time  for  arriving  in  Spain.  This  conduct 
was  mijust,  but  clever.^  Saguntum,  a  Greek  commercial  city,  half- 
way between  the  Ebro  and  Carthagena,  came  into  competition  on 
this  coast  with  the  Carthaginian  merchants.  Hannibal  desired 
to  offer  it  them  as  a  victim,  in  exchange  for  the  war  which  he 
forced  them  to  accept.  By  the  pillage  of  one  of  the  largest 
cities  in  the  peninsula  he  reckoned  also  on  buying  beforehand 
the  devotion  of  his  soldiers.  Rome  sent  some  deputies  to  him ; 
he  refused  to  receive  them,  under  the  pretext  that  he  could  not 
answer  for  their  lives  if  they  risked  themselves  among  so  many 
soldiers  who  were  barbarians.  The  deputies  went  to  Carthage 
to  demand  that  the  audacious  general  should  be  delivered  up  to 
them. 

1  Polybius  says  this  :  "  After  Cann.ae,  what  made  Rome  triumph  was  the  vitality  of  its 
institutions,"  rfi  tov  iroKiTevfiaTos  lbtcm\Ti  (iii.  118). 

2  [It  cannot  possibly  have  been  regarded  unjust  by  those  who  remembered  the  Roman 
annexation  of  Sardinia.  All  wars  are  begun  by  violating  treaties  imposed  by  previous  neces- 
sities. —  Ed-I 


THE   SECOND   PUNIC   WAK   FROM   218   TO   216.  655 

In  spite  of  the  just  resentment  which  Carthage  had  felt  re- 
specting tlie  coiuhict  of  Rome  in  the  matter  of  Sardinia,  she  did 
not  desire  war.  Her  rich  mercliants,  seehig  the  Romans  disdain 
the  profits  of  conimei'ce,  and  Marseilles,  Syracuse,  Naples,  and 
Tarentum  i>rosperHig  under  their  rule  or  in  alliance  with  them, 
were  becoming  familiarized  with  tlu>  idea  of  the  Roman  suprem- 
acy. Biit  the  people  and  Senate  were  ruled  by  the  Barcine  faction. 
In  spite  of  Hanno's  efforts,  answer  was  made  to  the  deputies  that 
Saguntum  had  of  itself  kindled  this  war,  and  that  Rome  would 
be  acting  unjustly  if  they  preferred  this  city  to  Carthage,  their 
more  ancient  ally.' 

During  these  embassies,  Saguntum  was  pressed  with  the 
utmost  rigor.  "  Situated,"  says  Livy,  "  about  1,000  feet  from 
the  coast,^  it  had  not  the  sea  for  defence,  and  Hannibal  was  able 
to  attack  it  from  three  sides  at  once.  His  assaults  were  often 
renewed ;  in  one  of  them  Hannibal  had  his  thigh  pierced  by  a 
javelin.  When  his  soldiers  saw  him  fall,  there  was  such  con- 
fusion and  fear  among  them,  that  the  mantlets  were  nearly 
abandoned,  and  for  some  days  the  siege  was  nothing  more  than 
a  blockade. 

"  Hannibal's  wound  l^eing  healed,  the  attack  was  obstinately 
renewed,  and  the  works  of  approach  reached  the  foot  of  the  wall, 
which  the  battering-ram  shook  in  several  places.  Already  the 
Carthaginians  thought  themselves  masters  of  the  city  ;  but  the 
Saguntines,  covering  the  city,  where  the  wall  failed,  with  their  own 
bodies,  checked  the  enemy  in  the  midst  of  the  rubbish.  They 
used  a  javelin  of  spruce-fir  with  an  iron  head,  three  feet  long, 
which  could  pierce  both  armor  and  body.  At  the  place  where 
the  iron  projects  from  the  handle  was  some  tow  steeped  in  tar, 
which  was  set  alight  at  the  moment  the  javelin  was  hurled,  and 
the  rapid  movement  fanned  the  flame.  Thus  the  falarica  —  that 
was  its  name  —  caused  much  fright.  Even  when  it  was  arrested 
on  the  buckler^  without  wounding  the  soldier,  it  forced  him,  from 


'  [This  is  the  account  of  Livy,  probably  borrowed  from  the  conservative  and  patriotic 
Fabius  Pictor,  and  very  untrustworthy.  —  Ed.'] 

2  Nearly  480  feet.  Tlie  rock,  400  feet  high,  on  which  Saguntum  had  been  built,  is  at 
present  2J  miles  from  the  sea.     (Hennebert,  Hist.  d'Annibal,  i.  296.) 

'  The  buckler  of  the  Roman  soldier  was  of  wood. 


6-56 


THE   PUNIC   WAES   FEOM   264   TO   201. 


fear   of   fire,    to   throw  awcay  his    arms   and    expose    himself   unde- 
fended to  the  blow  of  the  enemy." 

These  attacks  took  place  before  the  arrival  of  the  Roman 
deputies  at  the  camp  of  Hannibal  and  at  Carthage.  The}^  began 
again  after  the  breaking  off  of  the  negotiations,  and  to  excite  the 
ardor  of  the  soldiers,  Hannibal  promised  them  the  whole  booty 
of  the  city.      "  During  the  truce  the  Saguntines  had  raised  a  new 


REMAINS  OF  THE  THEATRE  OP  SAGUNTUM.l 

wall  behind  the  breach,  but  the  assaults  became  more  terrible  than 
ever ;  the  countless  Punic  army  surrounded  almost  the  entire  circuit. 
The  besieged  being  no  longer  able  to  defend  the  approach  to  their 
wall,  a  large  opening  was  made  by  which  the  enemy  entered  the 
city.  But  a  house-to-house  fight  Ijegan ;  and  the  Carthaginians 
having  succeeded  in  getting  hold  of  a  height,  surrounded  it  with 
a  wall,  and  made  it  a  citadel  which  they  held  in  the  city  itself. 


^  De  Laborde,  Voyage  d'Espagne. 


THE   SECOND   PUNTC   WAR   FROM   218   TO   21fi.  657 

and  which  commanded  it.  The  Sagnntines  on  their  side  covered 
with  a  new  wall  wliat  they  still  held  of  their  city.  Shut  np  more 
closely  day  after  day,  they  saw  their  destitution  increasing  and  the 
hope  of  succor  vanishing.  Confidence  returned  for  a  while  when 
it  became  known  that  Hannil:)al  was  obliged  to  march  against 
the  Cretans  and  the  Carpetans,  who  broke  o\it  into  revolt  at  the 
severity  of  the  levies.  But  Saguntum  gained  nothing  from  the 
absence  of  the  general ;  Maharbal,  charged  with  the  prosecution 
of  the  siege,  showed  such  activity,  that  neither  besiegers  nor 
besieged  were  conscious  of  their  chief's  absence.  Then  two  men, 
Alcon  of  Saguntum  and  the  Spaniard  Alorcus,  tried  to  Ijring 
about  an  accommodation.  The  conditions  demanded  l^y  the  con- 
queror were  such  that  Alcon  did  not  even  dare  to  report  them. 
Hannibal  left  to  the  inhabitants  only  life  and  two  garments : 
they  must  deliver  up  arms,  riches,  leave  their  city,  and  with- 
draw to  a  place  which  he  would  point  out.  Alorcus,  who  had 
formerly  been  the  guest  of  the  Saguntines,  offered  to  carry  these 
hard  terms  to.  them.  He  advanced  in  open  day  towards  the 
enemies'  sentinels,  to  whom  he  gave  up  his  arms,  and,  havmg 
crossed  the  entrenchments,  had  himself  conducted  to  the  chief 
magistrate,  who  introduced  him  to  the  senate.  He  had  scarcely 
finished  speaking,  when  the  leading  senators  caused  a  funeral  pile 
to  be  raised  in  the  public  place,  on  it  they  threw  the  gold  and 
silver  of  the  public  treasury,  then  their  own,  and  lastly  them- 
selves. This  sight  had  already  spread  consternation  in  the  crowd 
when  cries  arose ;  a  tower  fell,  and  a  Carthaginian  cohort,  dashing 
forwards  on  the  ruins,  informed  the  commander-in-chief  that 
the  place  was  divested  of  its  defenders."  Hannibal  hastened  in 
with  all  his  troops,  and  commanded  all  to  be  slain  who  were 
of  an  age  to  carry  arms,  — "  a  cruel  measure,"  says  Li^y,  "  but 
its  necessity  was  proved  by  the  event ;  for  how  could  men  be 
spared  who  burned  themselves  in  their  houses  with  their  wives  and 
children,  or  who,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  fought  to  the  last 
breath  (219)  ?"i 

'  Livy,  xxi.  6-14.  He  says  that  all  the  defcndors  of  the  place  were  killed,  belli  jure  (xxi. 
13)  ;  but  he  himself  relates  later  on  that  one  of  the  first  cares  of  the  Scipios  was  to  ransom  the 
Saguntines.  All,  therefore,  had  not  perished.  Neither  was  Saguntum  destroyed,  for  the 
Scipios  took  it  in  215,  and  the  Romans  made  a  colony  of  it,  which  was  still  existing  under 

VOL.  I.  42 


658 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM  264   TO   201. 


This  heroic  resistance,  of  which  Spain  affords  other  examples, 
had  lasted  eight  months.  A  part  of  the  riches  from  Saguntum 
sent  to  Carthage  reduced  the  numbers  of  the  peace  party ;  and  when 
a  second'  embassy  came  from  Rome  to  demand  a  solemn  reparation, 

it  was  the  Romans 
whom  they  accused 
of  violating  treaties. 
The  discussion  was 
prolonged  in  the  Coun- 
cil of  the  Ancients. 
At  last  Faljius,  hold- 
ing out  a  fold  of  his 


toga,   said  : 
here    peace 
choose !  " 
yourself !  " 
response 
sides. 


I 


bring 
or    war  ; 
"  Choose 
was    the 
from     all 
"Well,    then, 
war  !  ■  replied  Fabius. 
Hannibal  hastened 
his  preparations.     He 
sent    fifteen   thousand 
Spaniards  to  keep  gar- 
rison   in    the     places 
in      Africa,     and     he 
called  into    Spain  fif- 
teen     thousand      Af- 
ricans ;     both     would 
serve  as    hostages  for 
the  fidelity  of  the  two 
countries.     His    army 
rose  to  90,000  foot,  with  12,000  horse  and  58  elephants.     A  naval 
defeat  would  have  irretrievably  ruined  his  projects,  and  the  fleet 
of   Carthage  no  longer  was   mistress   on   the    Mediterranean.      He 


FIGURE    IN    TOGA. 


the  Empire.  One  of  its  coins,  of  very  coarse  workmanship,  represents  on  the  face  Tiberius ; 
on  the  reverse  a  ship's  prow.  Its  ruins  may  still  be  seen  near  Murviedro  {Muri  Veleres),  and 
the  S])aniards  there  sustained  a  siege  in  1811  against  Marshal  Suchet.  The  theatre  built  on 
the  slope  of  a  hill  was  then  partly  destroyed,  its  stones  having  been  used  in  the  fortifications. 


THE   SECOND   PUNIC   WAR   FROM   218   TO   216.  G59 

resolved  to  open  up  a  route  by  land.  Tt  was  a  very  bold  enter- 
prise to  go  in  search  of  the  Romans  in  tlie  very  heart  of  Italy, 
leaving  behind  the  Alps,  the  Rhone,  and  Pyrenees.  But  since 
the  adventurous  expedition  of  Alexander,  all  seemed  possible  to 
audacity.  Perhaps  Hannibal  did  not  believe  Rome  to  be  stronger 
in  Italy  than  Carthage  was  in  Africa.  Emissaries  secretly  sent 
with  gold  to  the  Gauls  and  Cisalpine  tribes  studied  the  mountain 
passes  and  the  dis2)ositions  of  the  peoples,  and  brought  back 
favorable  reports.  The  Boii  and  In.subres  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Po  promised  to  rise  en  masse;  and  it  did  not  seem  difficult  to  re- 
kindle the  hardly  quenched  hatred  of  the  last  Italians  Avhom  Rome 
had  conquered.  Capua  was  not  x'esigned  to  the  obscure  part  of  a 
subject  city ;  the  Sanniites  doulitless  would  be  roused,  and  Tarentum 
and  Etruria.  And  besides,  there  was  no  other  choice  than  either 
to  receive  war  or  carry  it  into  Italy.  The  consul  Semi^ronius 
was  already  making  immense  preparations  at  Lilybaeum  for  an  in- 
vasion of  Africa,  and  Scipio  was  levying  troops  which  he  hoped  to 
lead  into  Spain.  It  was  necessary  to  forestall  them.  The  example 
of  Regulus  showed  the  advantages  of  offensive  warfare ;  this  system 
was  besides  the  only  one  that  suited  Hannil:)ars  position ;  and  that 
to  which  he  would  be  always  compelled  to  return,  even  after 
victories  in  Africa  and  Spain.  If  there  were  difficulties  in  the 
march,  yet  ought  they  to  take  into  account  the  prestige  which 
would  surround  the  army,  when  the  Italians  should  see  descending 
from  the  summit  of  the  Alj)s  these  soldiers  who  came  from  the 
Pillars  of  Hercules,  and  were  bringing  them  liberty.  Since 
Pyrrhus,  no  enemy  had  penetrated  into  Central  Italy.  In  the 
midst  of  this  rich  district  the  war  would  support  itself,  and  it 
would  be  possible  to  do  without  Carthage.^  If  reinforcements 
should  be  needed,  the  forces  to  be  left  in  Spain,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Hasdrubal  and  Hanno,  might  follow  Hannibal  into  Italy 
by  the  same  route  which  the  general  himself  had  taken,  recruit- 
ing as  they  advanced  from  the  Gallic  nations  known  to  be  lui- 
friendly  to  Rome,  and  at  all  times  ready  for  the  lucrative  service 
of  Carthage. 

J  We  shall  follow  in  the  main  Polybius"  narrative.  Unfortunately  there  remains  of  it, 
after  the  battle  of  Cannae,  only  some  fragments.  Livy  will  then  become  our  guide  ;  he  has 
borrowed  much  from  Cincius  Alimentus,  who  was  one  of  Hannibal's  prisoners,  and  certainly 


660  THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 

When  he  conceived  this  bold  plan,  Hannibal  was  only  twenty- 
seven  years  of  age ;    the  age  of  Bonaparte  at  Lodi.^ 


II.   Hannibal  in  Gaul  ;  Crossing  of  the  Alps. 

After  a  solemn  sacrifice  offered  at  Gades  to  Melkart,  the  great 
god  of  the  Phoenician  race,  Hannibal  set  out  from  Carthagena  in 
the  spring  of  the  year  218,  and  reached  the  bank  of  the  Ebro 
with  102,000  men.  On  the  other  side  of  this  river  the  country 
is  difficult,  bristliiig  with  mountains,  one  of  which,  Montserrat, 
about  4,200  feet  high,  is  almost  impracticable.  He  passed  with 
the  bulk  of  his  forces  between  it  and  the  sea,  in  the  direction  of 
Emporium,  whilst  detached  corjis  went  towards  the  north-west 
to  drive  back  the  mountaineers  into  their  high  valleys.  He  was 
obliged  to  fight  his  way  through  this  region,  with  loss  of  twenty 
thousand  men.  Moreover,  many  of  his  Spanish  soldiers  deserted, 
and  of  those  who  remained,  a  considerable  number  openly  expressed 
their  discontent.  Upon  this  he  voluntarily  sent  back  eleven  thou- 
sand; and  intrusting  ten  thousand  foot  and  a  thousand  horse  to 
Hanno,  a  Carthaginian  officer,  to  keep  the  passes,  he  entered  Gaul 
with  fifty  thousand  foot  and  nine  thousand  horse,  all  veteran  soldiers 
devoted  to  him.     Thirty-seven  elephants  accompanied  the  army. 

On  leaving  Carthage,  the  Roman  ambassadors  went  to  Gaul 
to  persuade  the  barbarians  to  close  the  Pyrenaean  passes  against 
the  Carthaginians.  "  At  this  proposition  to  fight  for  the  people 
who  had  abandoned  Saguntum  and  oppressed  the  Italian  Gauls, 
there  arose  in  the  assembly  of  the  Bebryces  (Roussillon)  such 
laughter,"  says  Livy,^  "  mixed  with  angry  cries,  that  the  old 
men  had  difficulty  in  calming  the  younger."  On  their  return  to 
Rome,    the    deputies    declared    that   in    all    the    Transalpine    cities, 

also  from  Pol_ybius,  whom  be  so  often  copies  witliout  acknowledgment.  Appian  has  followed 
Fabius  Pictor,  also  a  contemporary.  Cornelius  Nepos  gives  very  little  information  in  liis  lives 
of  Hannibal  and  Amilcar.  The  lives  of  Fabius  and  Marcellus  in  Plutarch  are  rich  in 
detaOs.  Silius  Italicus  has  put  Livy  into  verse.  [Livy's  sources  often  serve  to  correct  Poly- 
bius.  —  £(•/.] 

1  Clinton  (Fasti  Hell.  iii.  20,  52)  places  his  birth  in  247.  lie  was  then  only  twenty- 
six  years  old  when  the  soldiers  made  him  the  successor  of  Ilasdrubal,  and  twenty-seven 
when  he  subdued  Spain. 

^  Tanlus  cum  fremitu  risus  dicilur  orlus.       (Livy,  xxi.  20.) 


I 


I'll  I 

mill 
iiliiii  I 


11    '1 
!   ,  'i 


mil  I 


Mill 

II 


'A 
a 

o 


w 

a 

O 

CO 


THE  seco:nd  rui^ic  wak  eilum  21s  to  216.  6G1 

except  Marseilles,  they  had  not  heard  one  peacefnl  or  hospitable 
word,  and  that  the  hatred  for  Rome  and  the  money  scattered  by 
Hannibal's  emissaries  were  preparing  an  easy  route  for  the  Car- 
thaginian. It  was  prudent,  therefore,  to  detain  hiui  in  his  own 
peninsida.  Tlie  consul  Senipronius,  who  was  preparing  for  an 
invasion  of  Africa  from  Sicil\%  had  ordi'rs  to  redouble  his  activity, 
and  r.  Scipio,  his  colleague,  pressed  on  his  levies  for  the  army  of 
Spain.  At  that  moment  the  Senate  thought  that  four  legions  would 
be  sufficient  to  take  satisfaction  from  Carthage  and  this  daring  young 
chief ;  there  were  soon  need  of  twenty-three  against  Hannibal  alone. 

They  also  took  precautions  against  the  Cisalpine  tribes.  To 
keep  them  in  clieck  two  colonies,  each  of  six  thousand  men,  were 
sent  to  Cremona  and  Placentia.  But  the  Boii  and  Insubres  dis- 
persed the  colonists,  chased  them  as  far  as  Modena,  which  they 
besieged,  and  surprised  in  the  midst  of  a  forest  the  praetor  Man- 
lius,  who  was  near  perishing  there.  These  events  retarded  the 
departure  of  Scipio,  and  deprived  him  of  a  legion  wdiich  he  was 
obliged  to  send  to  the  colonies  of  the  Po.  However,  when  his 
fleet  entered  the  port  of  Marseilles,  he  thought  Hannibal  was 
still  on  the  other  side  of  the  Pyrenees ;  the  (yarthaginian  was 
already    on    the    Rhone. ^ 

The  Bebryces  had  made  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  him ;  ^  the 
Arecomici  saw  their  independence  threatened  by  this  large  army 
which  was  approachiBg,  and  withdrew  behind  the  Rhone  in  order 
to  dispute  its  passage.  Hannibal  deceived  them ;  he  sent  a  part 
of  his  forces  to  cross  the  river  secretly,  25  miles  above  the  bar- 
barians' camp,  Avith  an  order  to  take  them  in  the  rear,  while  he 
himself  made  the  attempt  to  cross.  Harassed  by  this  double  at- 
tack and  by  the  burning  of  their  camp,  the  barbarians  dispersed. 
Hannibal  had  put  his  elephants  on  immense  rafts,  and  his  troops 
on  boats  bought  of  all  the  tribes  living  on  the  river  banks ; 
the  horses  followed  by  swimming ;  the  Spaniards  had  crossed  on 
inflated  leather  skins  and  their  bucklers.^ 

1  On  the  passage  of  the  Pj-renees  by  Hannibal,  see  the  work  of  Hennebert.  (Vol.  i. 
pp.  419-442.) 

2  This  treaty  referred  to  their  wives  the  deeision  of  the  Carthaginians'  claims  against 
the  native  pojjulations.     (Pint.,  de  Virl.  mulicr.) 

'  The  passage  was  made  above  Roiiuemaure,  nearly  12  miles  north  of  Avignon;  that 
is,  at  least,  the  opinion  of  Letronne,  adopted  by  Hennebert.      The  widespread  use  of  utres. 


662  THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 

The  next  day  five  hundred  Numidians  descended  the  Rhone 
to  reconnoitre  the  river  lower  down.  They  fell  in  with  a  recon- 
noitring party  of  three  hundred  Roman  knights  led  by  Gallic 
guides  in  the  pay  of  Marseilles.  The  two  troops  charged.  There 
returned  only  three  hundred  Numidians ;  the  Romans  had  lost  a 
hundred  and  sixty  men,  but  they  had  remained  masters  of  the 
battle-field. 

The  question  may  have  occurred  to  Hannibal's  mind  whether  he 
should  pursue  his  march,  or  return  against  the  consul,  who  was 
raising  his  camp  to  come  and  attack  him.  But  a  victory  in  Gaul 
would  have  decided  nothing ;  besides,  a  Boian  chief  had  just  come 
to  the  camp,  offering  guides  and  the  alliance  of  his  people. 
Hannibal  drew  farther  away  from  the  consul  by  ascending  the 
river's  course.'  What  route  did  he  take  ?  Here  Polybius  and  Livy 
differ,   and    after   them    all  modern    writers.^     Polybius  had  visited 

inflated  skins,  like  our  fisliermon's  Ijuoys  for  nets,  is  well  expLaineil  in  M.  Lentheric's  charming 
book  on  the  olil  delta  of  the  Rhone  and  the  Roman  remains  in  Provence. 

'  [He  meant  evidently  to  ascend  the  Valley  of  the  Durance,  which  is  the  most  southern 
affluent  of  the  Rhone,  and  this  would  have  made  his  journey  much  shorter.  lie  was  obliged 
to  take  the  ne.xt  river-course,  that  of  the  Isere.  — iJrf.] 

-  Out  of  90  dissertations  whi<'h  ajipeared  before  1835,  33  of  them  are  in  favor  of  the 
Little  St.  Bernard,  which,  having  only  6,750  feet  of  elevation,  is  the  easiest  passage  of  the 
whole  chain  ;  24  are  for  Mount  Gene\re ;  1 9  for  the  Great  St.  Bernard  ;  1 1  for  Mount  C'enis  ; 
and  3  for  Mount  Viso.  How  many  others  since  that  date  !  The  passage  by  the  Simplon,  which 
has  also  been  named,  Hannibal  would  have  rejected  as  too  far  towards  the  north  and  east,  as 
it  would  have  made  him  lose  much  valuable  time  ;  the  passage  by  the  Great  St.  Bernard  is 
very  difficult,  especially  at  the  beginning  of  October.  His  Insubrian  guides  must  have  known 
the  shortest  route,  and  this  was  that  of  the  Little  St.  Bernard,  Ijy  which  Hannibal  arrived 
in  a  straight  Hue  from  the  Valley  of  the  Isere  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  Insubres,  his 
allies.  The  immense  detour  wliich  some  propose  to  gain  the  River  Durance  by  very  diffi- 
cult country,  and  where  Scipio,  whom  he  was  avoiding,  would  have  been  able  from  Mar- 
seilles either  to  liinder  him  or  come  up  with  him,  made  him  debouch  by  Mount  Genevre  or 
Mount  Viso  on  the  lands  of  Ligures  Tauriui,  the  enemies  of  his  allies.  From  this  side  he  had 
to  fear  that  the  Taurini,  directly  threatened  by  his  approach,  would  have  summoned  to  them- 
selves the  mass  of  the  Ligurian  population  of  that  region.  His  guides  could  not  have  pointed 
out  to  him  such  a  route.  His  aim  was  to  reach  Italy  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  to  descend 
into  a  friendly  country  in  order  to  have  time  to  refresh  his  army  before  fighting.  Points  of 
strategy  ought  to  prevail  over  geographical  advantages,  —  which,  moreover,  are  uncertain. 
However,  the  theory  of  the  passage  by  Mount  Genevre  has  found  again  quite  lately  some 
<-lever  defenders  in  M.  Desjardins  (Ge'ographle  de  la  Gaule  Romaine,  vol.  i.  pp.  86-94),  and 
Hennebert  {op.  cit.  vol.  ii.  p.  43  cl  seq.).  Without  wishing  to  draw  any  conclusion  relative  to 
Hannibal's  crossing,  I  notice  the  fact  that  the  route  by  the  Little  St.  Bernard  was  so  much 
employed  from  high  antiquity,  that  it  had  been  consecrated  by  a  megalithic  monument. 
On  the  most  elevated  point  of  the  pass,  at  a  height  of  6,368  feet,  exists  a  cromlech,  or  circle 
of  raised  stones,  which  is  two  hundred  and  thirty  feet  in  diameter,  and  which  the  route 
crosses.  There  has  been  found  no  trace  of  sepulture  or  worship,  and  it  could  not  be  a 
place  of  meeting  for  the  deputies  of  the  neighboring  peoples.      AVhat  does  this  monument 


THE   SECOND  PUNIC  WAR  FROM   218  TO  216.  GG3 

the  i)laces  and  questioned  the  mountaineers  who  liad  seen  ilic 
expedition  pass ;  liis  narrative  ought  to  be  f(jllowed  ;  unhappily  he 
does  not  remove  all  the  difllculties,  whieh  will  doubtless  remain 
insurmountable.^  Besides,  whether  Hannibal  crossed  by  Mount 
Cenis,  Viso,  Genevre,  or  the  Little  St.  Bernard  is  of  small  con- 
sequence to  history,  which  is  above  all  interested  in  the  result; 
namely,  the  Alps  boldly  crossed  by  a  large  army. 

After  four  days'  march,  Hannibal  entered  "  Isle  of  the  Allo- 
broges,"  which  is  formed  l^y  the  Rhone  and  Isere.  Two  brothers, 
in  this  country,  were  disputing  for  the  supreme  power ;  he  took 
the  part  of  the  elder,  helped  him  to  conquer,  and  received  in 
return  food  and  clothing,  of  which  the  soldiers  would  soon  have 
such  need.  The  successful  chief,  with  all  his  barbarians,  accompa- 
nied Hannibal  across  the  plain,  to  the  very  foot  of  the  mountahis. 
Already  were  the  Alps  in  sight,  with  their  eternal  snows  and 
threatening  peaks.  But  Hannibal  had  caused  the  speech  of  the 
Boian  deputies  to  be  translated  to  his  troops,  —  their  promise  of 
guiding  the  army  by  a  short  and  sure  route,  the  picture  which  they 
drew  of  the  magnificence  and  richness  of  the  country  beyond  the 
Alps.  Thus  the  sight  of  these  dreaded  mountains,  far  from  depress- 
ing their  spirits,  animated  the  soldiers^  as  if  they  saw  the  goal  of 
the  war,  as  if  in  crossing  them  they  would  be,  as  Hannibal  expressed 
it,  scaling  the  very  walls  of  Rome. 

It  was  in  the  middle  of  October  that  the  Carthaginians  entered 
among  the  Alps.^  The  snow  already  hid  the  pastures  and  paths, 
and  nature  seemed  struck  with  torpor.  A  pale  autumn  sun  only 
partially  dissipated  the  thick  fog  which  every  morning  enveloped 
the  army;  and  the  long  cold  nights,  disturbed  by  the  solemn  sounds 

commemorate  ?  I  do  not  know.  M.  Al.  Bertrand,  the  learned  curator  of  the  Museum  of 
St.  Germain,  tliinks  this  cromlech  very  ancient.  It  is  one  proof  tlic  more  that  tliis  pass  was 
known  and  used  before  Hannibal. 

'  [On  the  other  hand,  it  is  the  opinion  of  Neumann  (Da.s  ZeitaUer  dcr  Pun.  Kriege, 
p.  286)  that  Livy  follows  better  sources,  and  is  our  best  authority.  —  Ed."] 

^  Polybius  makes  hght  beforehand  of  the  declamations  written  and  unwritten  about  the 
terrors  of  the  Alps :  moles  prope  caelo  iinmixtae,  etc.  The  sight  of  high  mountains,  far  from 
repelling,  attracts.  Spain,  besides,  and  the  Pyrenees,  whence  started  Hannibal's  soldiers, 
contain  peaks  as  imposing  as  those  of  the  Alps.  The  Cerro  de  jMulhaccn,  which  they  had 
saen  in  Baetica,  is  only  3,SU0  feet  less  than  Mont  Blanc. 

2  Ideler.,  Cliroiwl.  vol.  i.  p.  241.  Daude  de  Lavalette  {Rrcherches  sur  I'hisloire  du  pass- 
age d'Annibal  d'Espayne  en  Italic)  makes  him  reach  the  summit  of  the  Aljjs  on  the  2Cth  of 
October. 


664  THE    PUNIC   WARS   FROM  264   TO   201. 

of  distant  avalanclies  and  the  roar  of  torrents  in  cliasms  far  below, 
chilled  the  limbs  of  these  men  of  Africa.  Yet  the  cold  and  snow, 
the  precipices  and  the  untrodden  paths,  were  not  the  greatest 
obstacles ;  for  the  mountaineers  attempted  several  times  to  bar  the 
route  against  the  Carthaginians.  One  day  Hannibal  found  himself 
in  front  of  a  defile  guarded  hy  the  AUobroges,  and  which  was 
commanded  in  its  whole  length  b}-  perpendicular  rocks  crowned 
with  eneiuies.  He  stopped  and  had  a  camp  pitched  ;  fortunately 
the  Gallic  guides  informed  him  that  at  night  the  barbarians  would 
retire  to  their  town.  Before  the  next  day  he  held  the  defile 
and  heights  with  light  troops.  Still  there  was  a  bloody  fight, 
and'  terrible  confusion  for  some  hours.  Men,  horses,  beasts  of 
burden  rolled  down  the  precipices ;  a  number  of  Carthaginians 
perished.  However,  the  army  passed,  took  the  town,  and  found 
in  it  victuals  and  horses,  which  replaced  those  they  had  lost. 
Farther  on  another  tribe  appeared  before  Hannibal,  carr^dng 
branches  as  a  sign  of  peace,  and  offering  hostages  and  guides. 
He  accepted  them,  but  took  care  not  to  be  deceived.  The 
cavaliy  and  elephants,  the  very  sight  of  which  frightened  the  bar- 
barians, formed  the  advanced  guard ;  the  infantry  was  in  the 
rear,  the  baggage  in  the  centre.  On  the  second  day  the  army 
entered  a  narrow  gorge,  where  the  mountaineers  attacked  it,  hidden 
in  the  clefts  of  the  rocks.  For  a  nisjlit  Hannibal  was  cut  off 
from  his  advanced  guard  ;  it  was  the  last  attack.  After  nine 
days'  marching  he  reached  the  summit  of  the  pass,  and  there 
stopped  two  days  to  give  rest  to  his  troops.  From  thence  he 
pointed  out  to  them  the  rich  plains  of  the  Po,  and  in  the 
distance  the  way  towards  Rome,  their  promised  prey.  The 
descent  was  difficult ;  in  attempting  to  cross  a  glacier  covered 
afresh  with  snow,  men  and  horses  were  entangled.  Elsewhere  the 
path  was  so  narrow  that  the  elephants  could  not  pass :  three 
days  were  lost  in  making  a  road  broad  and  firm  enough  for 
them.  At  last,  fifteen  days  after  his  departure  from  the 
Rhone,  he  reached  the  lands  of  the  Insubres,  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  territory  of  the  Taurini.'  The  crossing  had  cost  him.  by 
his   own    admission,    twenty    thousand    men.       He    had    remaining 

1  .  .  .  (Is  Ta  TTfpt  ToK  ndSof  TTfSia  Kai  to  Ta>v  'ivaofi^pav  f'Ovos.      (Polyb.,   iii.   56.) 


'A 

O 


< 

H 
O 


THE   SECOND  PUNIC  WAR   EROM  218  TO  2W.  665 

only   twenty   thousand   foot   and   six   thousand   horse.'  Napoleon, 

who  placed  Hannibal   higher  than  any  other  general  of  antiquity, 

said  :     ''  He    bought    his    battle-field    at    the    price    of  half     his 
army." 


in.   Hannibal  in  Cisalpine  Gaul  ;   Battle  of  Ticinus  ; 
Battle  of  Trebia  (218). 

HjVNNIBAL  had  taken  five  months  to  do  the  400  leagues  which 
separate  Carthagena  from  Tunis ;  he  had,  therefore,  marched  on  the 
average  at  the  rate  of  only  three  leagues  a  day.  This  slow  pace, 
which  is  quite  explicable,  had  given  the  Romans  time  to  strengthen 
their  positions  in  Cisalpine  Gaul  so  as  to  restrain  Gallic  turbulence.^ 
So,  in  spite  of  the  promises  of  the  Boian  dei)uties,  no  people 
hastened  to  join  the  Carthaginians ;  besides,  faithful  even  in  the 
presence  of  the  legions  to  their  hereditary  hates,  these  tribes 
continued  naturally  hostile.  The  Taurini,  at  this  very  time, 
attacked  the  Insubres.  Hannibal  proposed  to  form  an  alliance 
with  them,  and  on  their  refusing  took  their  capital  by  assault ; 
all  who  were  in  it  were  slain.  This  rapid  and  sanguinary  expedi- 
tion attracted  some  volunteers,  but  the  Roman  legions  were  camp- 
ing on  the  banks  of  the  Po ;  the  Gauls  before  joining  Hannibal 
waited  for  victory  to  declare  in  his  favor.  Sati.sfied,  moreover, 
with  having  attracted  the  Carthaginian  army  into  Italy,  they  de- 
sired to  let  these  two  great  nations,  whose  hand  weighed  so  heavily 
on  all  the  barbarians  of  the  West,  engage  in  the  struggle,  —  per- 
haps with  the  secret  thought  that,  as  the  result  of  the  nmtual 
exhaustion  of  their  enemies,  they  might  be  able  some  day  to  play 
that  part  in  Italy  which  the  Galatians,  their  brethren,  were  playing 
in  Asia  with  so  much  jn-ofit. 

Hannibal  must  gain  a  victory.  In  order,  says  Livy,  to  speak 
in  a  lang-uasce  to  his  soldiers  which  all  midit  understand,  he  ranged 


'  lie  had  caused  these  figures  to  be  cut  on  a  cohuun  in  the  temple  of  Lacinian  Juno  :  roly- 
bius  saw  them.  In  the  wars  of  tlie  ancients,  as  in  our  own  down  to  the  17th  century,  the 
wounded  and  sick  ran  great  chance  of  perishing;  in  a  march  Hke  that  of  Ilauuibal,  those 
merely  lame  were  lost  •,   he  must  have  had  also  a  good  many  deserters. 

^  See  p.  G61. 


666  THE   PUNIC   WAES   FROM   264   TO   201. 

his  army  in  a  circle,  and  brought  into  its  midst  some  young 
mountaineers  who  had  been  made  prisoners,  all  covered  with 
wounds,  loaded  with  irons,  and  weakened  by  himger.  He  showed 
them  some  brilliant  garments,  rich  arms,  war-horses,  and  asked  them 
if  they  were  willing  to  fight  together.  The  conqueror  shall  have 
liberty  and  these  presents ;  death  will  free  the  conquered  from 
the  horrors  of  captivity.  They  joyfully  accepted,  fought  hard,  and 
triumphed  or  died  cheerfully.  Hannibal,  then  addressing  himself 
to  his  soldiers,  showed  them  in  these  prisoners,  in  this  fighting, 
their  own  case.  Shut  in  between  two  seas  and  the  Alps,  they 
can  never  see  their  native  land  again,  unless  they  open  up 
the  road  by  victory.  Either  lead  a  wretched  life  in  slavery,  or 
die  gloriously,  or  conquer  and  win  the  riches  of  Italy.  To  the 
spoils  of  Rome  he  will  add  lands  in  Spain,  Italy,  Africa,  every- 
where where  they  shall  ask  them ;  and  he  will  make  them,  if 
they  desire  it,  citizens  of  Carthage}  May  the  gods  slay  him,  if  he 
fail  in  these  promises,  as  he  himself  slays  this  lamb ;  and,  seizing 
a  stone,  he  crushes  the  head  of  the  victim  against  the  altar. 

The  activity  c>f  Hannibal  had  disconcerted  the  plans  of  the 
Senate ;  the  question  was  no  longer  of  fighting  in  Spain  or  of 
besieging  Carthage,  but  of  saving  Italy.  Sempronius,  whose  fleet 
had  already  gained  a  naval  victory  and  taken  Malta,  was  recalled ; 
Publius  Scipio,  after  his  futile  attempt  to  check  Hannibal  by 
a  battle  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhone,  had  voluntarily  left  his  prov- 
ince, sent  his  brother  Cnaeus  into  Spain  with  his  legions,  and  took 
the  route  to  Italy  by  sea.  He  hoped  to  reach  the  foot  of  the 
Alps  in  time  to  crush  the  army  in  its  descent,  while  distressed 
by  fatigues  and  privations.  This  time,  again,  in  spite  of  his  dili- 
gence, he  arrived  too  late.  From  Pisa  he  had  reached  Placentia, 
taken  the  command  of  the  Roman  forces  scattered  along  the  Po, 
and  crossed  that  river  in  order  to  place  himself  behind  the  Ticinus, 
between  the  Carthaginians  and  Insubres.  With  its  source  at  the 
St.    Gothard,    the    Ticinus    forms,    at    the    foot  of    the    Alps,    Lago 

1  Agrum  sese  daturum  esse  in  Italia,  Africa,  Hispania,  ubi  quisque  velit,  immunem  ipsi, 
qui  accepisset,  liberisque  .  .  .  qui  aociorum  elves  Carlhafiinienses  fieri  vellent,  potcstatem  factunun. 
(Livy,  xxi.  45.)  Neither  Bonaparte  nor  Caesar  would  have  dared  to  speak  with  such  disdain 
of  the  rights  of  the  re'al  sovereign  power,  —  the  people,  the  senate,  and  the  law.  But  in  Livy's 
case  one  always  entertains  some  scruples  :  were  these  the  words  of  the  general,  or  of  his 
historian  ?     They  tell  us,  at  least,  what  Livy  thought  of  the  Carthaginian  hero. 


THE   SECOND  TUNIC   WAR  FROM  218   TO  21G.  667 

Maggiore,  which  it  leaves,  a  clear,  deej),  rapid  stream,  to  fall  into 
the  River  Po  below  Pavia  ;  there  was  the  frontier  of  the  Insubrian 
territory.-'  Scipio  hastened  thither.  But  if  the  Romans  were  very 
brave,  well  armed,  and  well  organized  into  legions,  their  generals, 
renewed  yearly,  were  not  experienced  tacticians,  still  less  strategists. 
In  place  of  taking  iij)  a  position  behind  the  Ticinus,  of  which  he 
should  have  made  a  good  line  of  defence,  Scipio  passed  it  with  his 
horse  and  light  infantry.  Hannibal  puslnul  forward  at  the  same 
time  a  reconnoissance,  and  a  short  and  sanguinary  action  took  place. 
The  Numidians,  by  the  rapidity  of  their  charge,  soon  had  the  advan- 
tage over  light-armed  men,  whom  they  defeated,  and  also  caused 
the  Roman  cavalry  to  give  way.  The  consul  himself  was  wounded ; 
but  for  his  young  son,  the  future  conqueror  at  Zama,  he  would  have 
perished. 

This  battle  of  the  Ticinus  had  been  only  an  affair  of  the 
advanced  guard  ;  but  Scipio,  recognizing  the  Carthaginians'  superi- 
ority in  cavali-y,  fell  back  behind  the  Po,  and  resolved  to  avoid 
fighting  on  the  plain ;  laut  he  did  nothing  in  the  way  of  disputing 
with  the  enemy  the  passage  of  the  river,  which  Hanniba;!  easil}- 
crossed.  One  night  two  thousand  Gauls,  in  the  service  of  the 
Romans,  massacred  the  guards  of  the  camp  and  went  over  to  the 
Carthaginian,  who  sent  them  to  their  homes  laden  with  presents : 
they  were  to  arouse  among  their  people  defections  fatal  to  the 
Romans.  The  consul  had  first  made  a  stand  at  Placentia.  To 
secure  himself  from  l)eing  shut  up  in  this  place,  he  selected  a 
position  in  a  valley  behind  the  town,  esta1)lishing  his  camp  on  the 
bank  of  the  Trebia,  his  rear  being  protected  by  the  Apennines. 
This  torrent,  sadly  famous  in  French  history^  as  in  that  of  Rome, 
comes  down  from  the  mountains  through  a  narrow  valley,  which 
expands  into  a  plain  only  twelve  miles  from  Placentia.  There 
Scipio  awaited  the  arrival  of  his  colleague  Sempronivis,  whom  he 
had  summoned,  and  who  in  forty  days  had  come  with  all  his 
troops  from  Rhegium  to  Ariminum. 

The  Romans  had  a  part  of  their  magazines  at  Clastidium,  a  for- 
tified  post   on  the  Po,  up  the    stream   from  Placentia.      Hannibal 

1  Breadth  at  Buffalora,  533  to  660  yards  ;  lower  it  reaches  sometimes  2,000.  (Hennebert, 
op.  cit.  i.  322.) 

"  [Great  defeat  of  the  French,  under  Marslial  Macdonalil,  June  17-1:),  17;»9,  by  tlie 
Austro-Hussian  forces  under  Suvaroff.] 


668  THE  PUNIC   WARS   FROM   2G4  TO  201. 

surrounded  this  place,  frightened  or  gained  over  the  commandant,  a 
native  of  Brundusium,  and  entered  it,  —  a  precious  acquisition  for 
him,  and  a  very  great  loss  to  the  Romans.  Sempronius  on  his  arrival 
was  only  the  more  eager  to  fight,  and  readily  fell  into  a  snare  laid 
for  him  by  the  Carthaginian  general.  One  morning  the  Numidians 
drew  near  to  provoke  the  camp  before  the  hour  when  the  soldiers 
took  their  meal,  and  drew  them  on  across  the  icy  waters  of  the  Trebia-' 
as  far  as  a  plain  where  Hannibal  had  liidden,  in  the  bed  of  a  ton^ent, 
two  thousand  men,  intrusted  to  his  brother  Mago.  Weakened  by 
hunger,  the  cold,  and  the  snow,  which  the  wind  beat  into  their  faces, 
the  Romans  were  at  a  great  disadvantage  when  they  came  up  with 
the  whole  Carthaginian  army,  who,  in  good  condition,  fresh  from 
their  tents,  stood  drawn  up  in  battle  array  to  receive  them.  They 
made  a  gallant  resistance,  however,  and  the  fortune  of  the  day  was 
still  undecided,  when  Mago  with  his  band  burst  upon  them,  and  a 
rout  commenced. 

Nearly  twenty-five  thousand  Romans  perished  or  disappeared  ; 
ten  thousand  only,  with  Sempronius,  broke  through  the  Gauls  of 
Hannibal  ^  and    reached  Placentia,  —  where,  when    night    came    on, 

1  [A  diversity  of  opinion  exists  as  to  the  position  of  the  Roman  and  Carthaginian  camps, 
and  the  location  of  the  plain  on  which  was  fought  the  battle  of  the  Trebia.  It  is  agreed  that 
the  two  camps  were  situated  one  on  each  side  of  the  stream,  and  that  the  battle  took  place 
on  the  side  occupied  by  the  Carthaginians.  Livy  directly  asserts  that  the  Carthaginian  oamp 
was  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Trebia ;  but  this  view  of  the  situation  embarrasses  the  story  with 
considerable  difficulties.  Of  these  the  most  serious  seems  to  be  the  question  how  Sempronius 
was  able  to  effect  a  junction  with  Scipio  without  any  opposition  from  Hannibal,  since  if  the 
latter  was  encamped  upon  the  east  bank,  the  Roman  consul,  in  advancing  from  the  Adriatic 
(o  join  his  colleague,  must  have  been  comjielL'd  to  lead  his  large  army  "  through  a  country," 
says  Dr.  Arnold,  "  unvaried  by  a  single  hill,"  jiast  the  Carthaginian  camp,  and  well  within 
range  of  the  incessant  reconnoitring  of  Hannibal's  Numidian  cavalry.  "  But  so  much  in  war 
depends  upon  trifling  accidents,"  continues  Arnold,  dismissing  the  question,  "  that  it  is  vain  to 
guess  where  we  are  without  information.  We  only  know  that  the  two  consular  armies  were 
united  in  Scipio's  position  on  the  left  (west)  bank  of  the  Trebia."  Other  difficulties  connected 
with  Livy's  statement  concern  the  retreat  of  the  Romans  after  the  battle,  their  crossing  and 
re-crossing  the  river,  and  final  taking  shelter  in  I'lacentia.  Livy's  view  has  been  very  gen- 
erally accepted,  however,  by  the  older  writers ;  but  the  modern  school,  represented  by  Momm- 
sen,  frankly  discard  it,  and  assert  that  the  phrase  of  Polybius  on  which  Livy  founds  his 
topography  of  the  battle-ground  was  misunderstood  by  the  latter  author.  Says  Mommsen : 
"  Polybius'  account  of  the  battle  of  the  Trebia  is  quite  clear.  If  Placentia  lay  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Trebia  where  it  falls  into  the  Po,  and  if  the  battle  was  fought  on  the  left  bank 
(both  of  which  points  have  been  disputed,  but  are  nevertheless  indis]iutablc)  "  .  .  .  .  And 
later,  "  The  erroneousness  of  the  view  of  Livy  which  transfers  the  Phoenician  camp  to  the 
right  and  the  Roman  to  the  left,  has  been  repeatedly  pointed  out."  If  the  opinion  of 
Mommsen  be  accepted,  the  march  of  Sempronius  and  the  Roman  retreat  are  rendered 
comprehensible,  as  will  be  seen  by  a  reference  to  the  map.] 

'  According  to  Polybius,  almost  all  the  dead  on  Hannibal's  side  were  Gauls. 


THE    SECOND   PUNIC   WAR   FROM   218   TO   210.  669 

Scipio  collected  some  fugitives,  those  who  had  been  ;ible  to  regain 
tiie  ca,mp.  This  great  success  was  due  to  the  Numidian  cavalry, 
at  present  three  times  more  numerous  than  that  of  the  legions,' 
which  had  tluown  the  two  wings  into  disorder,  while  Mago's 
horse  threw  the  main  bod}-  into  confusion  by  attacking  it  in  tiie 
rear. 

The  defeat  at  the  Ticinus  had  repulsed  the  Romans  across  the  Po ; 
that  of  the  Trebia  repulsed  them  beyond  the  Apennines.  Except 
Placentia,^  Cremona,  and  Modena,  Cisalpine  Gaul  was  lost  to  them. 

So  far,  Hannibal's  plan  had  succeeded ;  and  the  fame  of  the  late 
victory,  spreading  throughout  Cisalpine  Gaul,  caused  the  tribes  who 
had  remained  undecided  at  once  to  send  in  their  allegiance,  with 
promise  of  troops  for  the  spring  campaign.  But  while  he  was 
thus  opening  the  route  to  Rome,  Cnaeus  Scipio  in  Spain  closed 
against  Ilasdrubal  that  into  Gaul.  Troops  sent  into  Sardinia, 
Sicily,  Tarentum,  garrisons  put  into  all  the  strong  places,  and 
a  fleet  of  sixty  galleys,  cut  his  communications  with  Carthage. 
This  caused  him  little  fear,  for  the  Gauls  were  flocking  in  crowds 
to  his  standard,  and  the  Italian  prisoners,  treated  kindly,  then  re- 
leased without  ransom,  were  going,  so  he  thought,  to  gain  over 
the  peoples  of  the  peninsula.  Of  the  two  routes  which  led  thither, 
though  he  took  the  more  difficult,  yet  it  was  shorter ;  and  in  spite 
of  the  advanced  season,  he  tried  to  cross  the  Apennines.  A  terrible 
storm,  like  those  which  sometimes  burst  forth  in  these  mountains, 
drove  him  back.  He  returned  to  Cisalpine  Gaul  and  waited,  in 
the  meantime  blockading  Placentia,  for  the  return  of  spring. 


IV.   Thrasimene  (217);  and  Cannae  (216). 

Napoleon  has  said,  "  If  you  hold  North  Italy,  the  rest  of 
the  peninsula  falls  like  a  ripe  fruit."     That  was  true  of  his  time, 

1  Accustomed  to  fight  in  a  mountainous  country,  the  Romans  had  only  a  small  force  of 
cavalry;  at  the  Trebia,  4,000  horse  to  3(j,000  foot,  or  1  to  9.  Hannibal  had  more  than  10,000 
to  20,000  foot,  or  1  to  2.  Napoleon  also  greatly  increased  the  profiortion  of  cavalry  in  the 
French  armies,  and  military  writers  agree  in  laying  down  the  principle  that  the  cavalry  ought 
to  be  to  the  infantry  as  1  to  4,  5,  or  6,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  ground  where  they 
fight. 

'  Sempronius,  shut  up  in  this  city,  gained,  however,  some  advantages  over  Hannibal. 
(Livy,  xxi.  57,  59.) 


070  THE    J'lTNIC    WARS    FROM    2C4   TO   201. 

when  on  both  sides  of  the  Apennines  all  was  ripe  for  a  speedy 
fall ;  but  not  so  in  Hannibal's  time,  because  a  brave,  disciplined 
people,  resolved  on  conquest,  awaited  there  the  invader  behind 
the  triple  ami  impregnable  rampart  of  cities  surrounded  by  Cyclo- 
pean walls,  and  coiniectcid  with  each  other  by  good  roads. 

The  Gauls  had  reckoned  on  a  rapid  expedition,  on  obtaining 
booty  ;  and  it  fell  to  them  to  feed  the  army  and  submit  to  dis- 
cipline. This  discontent  led  to  many  plots,  from  which  Hannibal 
escaped,  so  it  is  said,  only  l)y  continual  disguises,  appearing  at  one 
time  as  a  young  man,  at  another  as  an  old  man,  and  thus  baffling 
the  plots  or  ins])ii'iiig  in  thc^se  rude  minds  a  sort  (jf  religious 
respect.^  As  soon  as  the  cold  weather  ])roke  up  he  determined 
to  go  into  Etruria  in  search  of  those  legions  which  had  not 
dared  to  dispute  Cisalpine  Gaul.  To  deceive  them  again,  he 
took  the  most  dillicult  route,  by  plunging  into  the  midst  of  im- 
mense marshes,  wlu-re  foi-  foui-  days  and  tlii'ee  nights  the  army 
marclicd  in  water  and  nnid.  'Vln)  Africans  and  Spaniards,  placed 
in  the  vanguard,  passed  without  serious  loss  ;  but  the  Gauls,  who 
followed  on  ground  already  beaten  in,  kept  slipping  at  every  step 
and  falling.  Without  the  cavalry,  who  followed  them  close,  they 
would  have  retreated  ;  many  perished.  Almost  all  the  baggage 
and  Ijeasts  of  burden  stuck  in  the  mai'sli.  Hannibal  himself, 
mounted  on  his  last  elephant,  lost  an  eye  by  the  watchings, 
fatigues,  and  damjmess  of  the  nights.'"*  On  hsaving  these  quag- 
mires, which  were  dried  up  when  the  Aemilian  Way  was  afterward 
laid  down,  he  entered  the  Apennines,  cleared  them  at  the  defile  of 
Pontremoli,  and  descending  into  the  Valley  of  the  Amo,  marched 
by  Faesulae  on  Arnitiiuii. 

If  the  Romans,  watching  all  his  movements,  had  come  and 
attacked  him  on  leaving  the  marshes  or  the  mountains,  they 
might  have  ciheoked  his  advance.  But  thv.y  did  not  know  how 
to  make  war  with  this  foresight.  Encamped  under  the  walls  of 
Arnitium  and  Arimim nn„  they  patiently  awaited  the  appearance 
of  the  enemy  by  the  usual  I'outes,  forgetting  that  the  Gauls,  eight 

^  'ESokovv  BiioTcpas  <pva(o>s  Xa^fLv.      (A[>p.  lieli.  Ann.  (i.) 

^  These  marslios  are  generally  ])laee(l  with  Livy  to  tlie  soutli  of  tlie  Apennines  in  the  valley 
of  the  Arno.  Micali  maintains  (2(1  part,  eap.  xv.)  that  they  were  on  the  otlu^r  side  of  the 
inountainH,  in  the  territory  of  I'arnia  and  Modena.  I'olybius'  narrative  is  not  ojiposed  to  this, 
and  Strabo  (V.  i.  11)  says  so  e.xpressly. 


THE    SECOND   PUNIC    WAR   FROM   218   TO   2Ki. 


671 


years  before,  had  made  use  of  another,  which,  without  the  happy 
inspiration  of  the  consul  Aeniilius,  would  have  led  them  direct  to 
Rome.  The  legions  at  Arretiiun  were  commanded  by  Flaminius, 
who  as  tribune  had  j^iis^i^^^d  an  agrarian  law ;  as  consul,  had  con- 
quei'ed  in  spite  of  the;  augurs ;  as  censor,  had  executed  some  works 
of  public  utility,  which  were  paid  for  out  of  moneys  which  the 
tenants  of  the  state  forests,  pastures,  and  mines  owed  to  the 
treasury,  and  which,  by  connivance  of  the  Senate,  they  often  forgot 


A.    HARUSPEX.' 

to  pay.  The  people  had  just  given  him.  in  spite  of  the  nobles, 
a  second  consulate.  Recently  Flaminius  had  further  increased  the 
hatred  of  the  nobility  against  himself  by  supporting  a  law  which 
prohibited  any  senator  having  at  sea  a  ship  of  more  burden  than 
three  hundred  amphorae?'  So  to  annul  his  election,  the  most 
sinister  presages  had  appeared  ;    some  contrived  by  those  who  had 


1  A  haruspex  consults  the  entrails  and  the  liver  of  an  ox,  which  has  just  been  sacrificed, 
and  seems  to  be  giving  account  of  what  they  presage.  The  victimarius  holds  in  his  right  hand 
tlie  hatchet  (inalleus)  with  whicli  he  has  struck  the  victim,  and  the  vessel  where  he  has  re- 
ceived its  blood.  Tliis  bass-relief  is  perhaps  the  only  one  which  shows  this  ceremony.  Museum 
of  the  Tjouvre,  Xo.  439  in  the  Clarac  catalogue. 

-  Livy,  x.xi.  63. 


672 


THE   PUNIC   WARS    FEOM    264   TO   201. 


a  purpose  in  producing  them,  and  all  accepted  by  popular  credulity, 
nay,  even  by  the  most  serious  people. 

At    Lanuvium,    Juno    had    shaken    her   lance  ;    burning    stones 

had  fallen  at  Praeneste,  and  meteors  had 
shone  at  sea.  In  the  country  of  Ami- 
ternum  white  phantoms  had  been  seen  ; 
at  Falerii  the  lots  had  grown  thin, 
and  on  one  of  them  was  read,  "  Mars 
brandished  his  lance."  At  Caere  the 
waters  had  rolled  with  blood  ;  at  Capena 
two  moons  were  seen  in  the  sky.  In 
Sicily  there  liad  been  seen  flames  on  the 
points  of  lances ;  in  Gaul  a  wolf  had 
snatched  away  a  sentinel's  sword  ;  buck- 
^^  lers  had  sweated  blood ;  ears  of  corn  had 
fallen  covered  with  blood  luider  the  sickle, 
—  foolish  fears  born  of  strange  beliefs  or 
frights  caused  by  misunderstood  pheno- 
mena, and  which  prove  that  the  human 
mind  can  bring  forth  silly  fancies  even 
amongst  a  people  the  most  dispassionate 
in  the  world.  In  the  name  of  the  Senate 
the  praetor  of  the  city  promised  rich 
offerings  to  the  gods  if  they  would 
•'^'^^-  preserve    the  Republic    for    ten    years    in 

her  whilom  state  ;  the  matrons  dedicated  a  bronze  statue  to 
the  Aventine  Juno ;  and  continual  sacrifices,  solemn  prayers  filled 
the  city  and  army  with  superstitious  fe^rs.  The  newly-elected 
consul  did  not  take  these  into  consideration.  Certain  of  being 
detained  at  Rome  by  false  auspices,^  he  set  out  secretly  from 
the  city  without  having  been  invested  at  his  own  house,  accord- 
ing to  custom,  with  the  toga  practcxta,  the  badge  of  office, 
without  having  put  on  at  the  Capitol  the  paludamentum,  or 
military  robe,  or  having  offered  up  on  the  Alban  Mount  the 
dutiful  sacrifice  to  Jupiter  Latiaris. 

1  After  a  statue  -which  is  at  Rome.        (Menard,  la  Mjth.  dans  Part  ancien  el  moderne, 
fig.  42.) 

2  Auspiciis  ementiendis .  (Livy,  xxi.  fi3.)    The  tribune  Ilerennius  accused  the  augurs  the 
year  after  of  pious  frauds.     (Livy,  xxii.  34.) 


THE   SECOND    I'UNIC   WAR   FROM   218   TO   21  (1. 


673 


To  justify  this  neglect  of  the  gods  and  of  very  old  customs, 
a  victory  was  necessary.  Polybius  says  that  he  sought  one 
with  presumptuous  impmidence.  Yet  we  see  him  awaiting  in  his 
(iainp  at  Arretium  Hannibal's  attack,  and  when  the  Carthaginian, 
who,  being  without  siege-train,  was  able  neither  to  take  a  city 
nor  storm  a  camp,  had  passed  by  him,  the  Roman  slowly  follows  his 
enemy,  informs  his  colleague,  who  sets  forth  from  Ariminum  with 
all  his  forces,  so  that  he  could  hope 
to  renew  the  campaign  so.  happily  ter- 
minated lately  at  Telamon.  To  con- 
clude, he  was  not  the  assailant  at  Lake 
Thrasimene.  But  Flaminius  was  wrong, 
and  he  paid  for  this  witli  his  life,  in  not 
making  a  more  cautious  march,  and  in 
falling  blindly  into  the  snare  which  his 
clever  adversary  laid  for  him.  Hanni- 
bal had  left  behind  him  the  high  walls 
of  Arretium  and  Cortona,  when,  7  miles 
south  of  this  latter  city,  he  found  him- 
self, by  going  round  a  spur  of  the  moun- 
tains, on  the  banks  of  Lake  Thrasimene 
(Lago  di  Perugia),  a  sheet  of  water 
not  deep,  but  8  miles  broad  and  10 
miles  long.  On  the  side  where  the 
road  passes,  the  hills  of  the  Gualandro 
{Monies  Cortonenses)  form  a  semicircle, 
the  ends  of  which  gradually  fall  towards 
the  lake,  near  two  villages,  —  Borghetto 
on  the  north,  and  Tuore  on  the  south. 
It  is  a  natural  theatre  enclosing  a  little  plain,  invisible  till  you 
enter  it.  As  the  route  ran  by  the  side  of  the  lake,  Flaminius, 
who  was  pursuing  the  Punic  army,  would  of  necessity  be  entan- 
gled in  this  snare  without  means  of  escape.'^  Hannibal  there 
awaited  him.  He  placed  his  heavy  infantry  at  the  end  of  the 
plain  to  close  the  way  to  the  south,  dispersed  his  slmgers  over 
the  heights  and  in  the  hollows  of   the  grovmds,  and  hid  his  Numi- 


PALUDAMENTUM.l 


*  After  a  bas-relief  of  Trajan's  Column. 
vol..  I.  43 


"...  loca  nala  insidiis.     (Livy,  xxii.  4.) 


674 


THE   PUNIC    WAES    FROM   264   TO   201. 


dians    and    the    Gauls    behind    the    hills    which    commanded    the 
northern  pass. 

Flaminius  knew  these  parts,  which  he  had  traversed  in  order 
to  join  the  camp  at  Arretium ;  but  military  instinct  failed  him. 
There  where  Hannibal  had  found  a  field  of  battle  admirably  pre- 
pared,   lie    had    seen    nothing,    except    water    and    heights    which 


Scale    1:  250.000 
., I I 


LAKE    THKASIMENE. 


embarrassed  his  march.  At  daybreak,  without  at  all  suspecting 
the  great  movement  of  men  which  was  taking  place  around  him, 
he  fell  into  the  snare.  A  thick  fog  rose  from  the  lake  and  covered 
the  plain,  whilst  on  the  hills,  where  the  air  was  quite  clear,  the 
enemy  were  making,  without  being  perceived,  their  final  arrange- 
ments. Suddenly  loud  cries  resounded  in  the  front,  rear,  and 
flank  of  the  Roman  army,  which  was  attacked  from  all  sides  be- 
fore the  soldiers  could  take  up  their  arms  and  the    legions  change 


THE   SECOND   PUNIC   WAR    FROiM    218   TO   216.  G75 

from  tliL'ir  marching  oi'der  into  order  of  battle.  It  was  a  horrible 
melee,  lasting  only  three  hours,  but  with  such  obstinacy,  that  the 
combatants  were  not  aware  of  an  earthquake  which  at  the  same 
time  shook  the  mountains.  Flaminius  was  slain  by  an  Insubrian 
horse-soldier;  15,000  of  his  men  perished;  as  many  were  made 
prisoners ;  very  few  escaped.^  A  stream  which  crosses  the  fatal 
plain  still  preserves  the  remembrance  of  this  great  massacre,  the 
Sanguinetto.  Hannibal  had  lost  only  fifteen  hundred  men,  almost 
all  Gauls.^  The  next  day  four  thousand  horse,  sent  by  the  other 
consul,  fell  besides  into  the  midst  of  the  victorious  army,  and  some 
days  after  a  fleet  of  transports,  which  was  carrying  munitions 
of  war  to  the  army  of  Spain,  was  captured  near  Cosa  by  the 
Carthaginians  (217). 

From  Thrasimene  to  Rome  it  is  only  35  leagues ;  the  route 
was  free,  for  the  other  consular  army,  which  had  just  lost  all  its 
cavalry,  was  still  far  in  the  rear  of  the  Carthaginians,  and  the 
Numidians  already  showed  themselves  under  the  walls  of  Nar- 
nia,  two  days'  journey  from  the  Capitol.  However,  Hannibal  did 
not  think  himself  strong  enough,  notwithstanding  the  destruction 
of  two  armies,  to  risk  a  march  on  the  great  city.  His  good 
treatment  of  the  Italian  prisoners,  whom  he  continued  to  send 
back  without  ransom,  had  as  yet  brought  him  no  advantage.  Etru- 
ria  gave  no  sign  of  affection  to  this  friend  of  the  Gauls ;  and  the 
first  city  that  he  attacked  after  Thrasimene,  the  colony  of  Spoleto, 
victoriously  repulsed  him.^  Since  his  departure  from  Spain,  his 
troops  had  had  no  repose ;  he  had  in  his  train  many  wounded 
and  sick ;  men  and  horses  were  covered  with  a  leprosy  caught  in 
the  marshy  encampments  in  Cisalpine  Gaul.  To  refresh  his  troops 
he  led  them  into  the  fertile  plains  of  Picenum,  had  the  Numidian 
horses  washed  with  old  wine,*  took  care  of  his  wounded,  and  gorged 


>  Livy  says  ten  thousand;  but  Polybius*  narrative  creates  tlie  belief  that  the  army  was 
anniliilated. 

2  'Ho-ai/  ol  TrXei'ouf  KcXrot.     (Polyb.,  iii.  85.) 

'  The  inhabitants  of  Spoleto  have  preserved  this  glorious  souvenir  in  an  inscription  cut  on 
one  of  their  gates,  of  which  we  give  a  ]>ir-ture,  taken  from  an  engraving  in  the  National 
Library,  but  which  is  modern. 

*  'EkXovoiv  Toir  naXaioU  o'imis.  (Polyb.,  iii.  88).  He  says  elsewhere  (ix.  2)  that  Hannibal 
owed  all  his  victories  to  this  formidable  cavalry,  which  the  Romans  never  dared  to  attack  on 
level  ground. 


676  THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 

his  mercenaries  with  booty.  What  a  singular  homage  rendered 
by  the  conqueror  at  Thrasiniene  to  the  military  organization  of  the 
Romans  :  he  armed  his  Libyan  infantry  with  the  short  sword  and 
large  buckler  of  the  legionaries !  ^ 

At  Rome,  after  the  battle  at  Trebia,  the  extent  of  the  disaster 
was  kept  secret ;  after  that  of  Thrasimene  they  did  not  dare  to  hide 
anything.  "  We  have  been  beaten  in  a  great  battle."  These  words, 
falling  on  the  multitude  like  an  impetuous  wind  on  the  Avide  sea, 
spread  consternation.  For  two  days  the  Senate  deliberated  without 
leaving  the  senate-house,  and  provided  for  everything.  The  bridges 
over  the  Tiber  were  broken,  the  gates  and  walls  put  into  a  state 
of  defence,  projectiles  piled  up  on  the  ramparts.  Not  a  soldier  was 
recalled  from  Sicily,  Sardinia,  or  Spain ;  but,  as  in  other  moments  of 
great  public  danger,  it  was  resolved  to  concentrate  the  whole  power 
in  the  hands  of  one  chief.  The  dictator  ought  lawfully  to  be 
nominated  by  a  consul :  Flaminius  had  perished,  and  it  was  im- 
possible to  communicate  with  Sempronius.  The  Senate  decided 
that  the  people  should  be  asked  to  name  a  pro-dictator.  In  this 
way,  while  breaking  the  letter,  they  kept  the  spirit  of  the  law ;  and 
as  it  was  the  sovereign  power  itself  that  made  this  modification  in 
the  custom,  the  citizens  owed  obedience  to  the  new  magistrate ; 
the  gods,  their  aid.  Rome  was  at  that  time  admirable  for  political 
good  sense.  Before  the  common  danger,  party  spirit  was  wiped 
out ;  the  people  elected  as  pro-dictator  the  chief  of  the  nobility, 
a  member  of  one  of  the  most  famous  Roman  families,  Fabius 
Maximus,  and  the  aristocracy  accepted,  as  Master  of  the  Horse, 
Minucius,  one  of  the  favorites  of  the  multitude.  There  was 
need  to  persuade  the  people  that  it  had  been  conquered  simply 
from  the  impiety  of  Flaminius.  Fabius  caused  the  public  prayers 
and  sacrifices  to  be  renewed ;  they  celebrated  a  lectisternium 
in  honor  of  the  twelve  gods ;  ^  there  was  vowed  to  them  a 
sacred  spring,   they  were  promised  games,  temples ;  and  a  praetor 

^  [He  ])robably  had  no  other  means  of  replacing  those  broken  or  worn  out  in  Italy.  —  Ed."] 
^  The  following  is  the  arrangement  of  the  guests  at  this  divine  feast :  Sex  pulvinaria  in 
■  conspectu  fuerunt :  Jovi  ac  Junoni  unum,  alterum  Nepluno  ac  Minervae,  tertium  Marti  et  Veneri, 

quartum  ApoUini  ac  Dianae,  quintum  Vulcano  ac  Vestae,  sexluni  Mercurio  ac  Cereri.     (Livy,  xxii. 

10.)     After  the  example  of  Roman  women, /emi'nae  cum  viris  cubantihus  sedentes  cocnitabant, 

the  goddesses  being  seated  in  sellas,  the  gods  reclining  in  lectulum.     (Val.  Max.,  II.  i.  2.)     See 

pp.  234  and  3S7. 


o 

H 

o 

P4 


THE   SECOND   PUNIC   WAR   FROM'  218   TO   L'lfi. 


677 


was    charged    witli     an    exclusive    oversight    of    these    numerous 
expiations. 


-^^/■'-3> 


BAS-RELIEF    OF    THE    AI.TAR    OF    THE    TWELVE    GODS.' 


For  the  "  sacred  spring,"  which  the  sibyUine  books  had  de- 
manded, the  Pontifex  Maximus  ordered  that  the  following  question 

1  We  have  brought  together  in  one  ])late  the  three  sides  of  the  monument,  in  whicli  are 
represented :  in  the  upper  register,  the  Twelve  Months,  symbolized  by  twelve  divinities  (Nos. 
1,  3,  4);  in  the  lower,  the  Graces,  who  give  the  pleasures  of  life  (No.  2)  ;  the  Seasons,  who 
promise  abundance  (No.  5)  ;  the  Eumenides,  who  assure  the  execution  of  the  decrees  of  divine 
justice  (No.  ()).     The  woodcut  on  p.  678  gives  one  of  these  sides.     The  numbers  1  and  2  are 


678 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   1301. 


should  be  put  to  the  people :  "  If  five  years  from  now  the  Roman 
people  of  the  Quirites  come  prosperously  out  of  this  war,  are  you 
willing,  do  you  order  that  there  be  made  to  Jupiter  an  offering 
of  all  that  the  spring  shall  have  produced,  —  of  pigs,  sheep,  goats, 
and  oxen,  to  commence  from  a  day  fixed  by  the  Senate  and 
people  ?  "     The  proposition  having  been  accepted,  every  citizen   felt 

himself  legally  bound  to 
fulfil  this  vow  at  the 
appointed  time.  Yet 
the  chief  priest  took 
care  to  enumerate  the 
cases  in  which  the 
sacrifice    would    not   be 


"  legitimate,"    in    order 
that  the  Roman  people 
might  not  be  responsible 
for     any     irregularities 
towards  the    gods,  and 
that    the    latter    should 
be  obliged  to  keep  the 
agreement     which     the 
priests    had    just     con- 
cluded   in    their    name.       For   them,    homage,    honor  ;    for    Rome, 
victory  ;    and    they    would    have    willingly    said    to    their   gods    as 
the  Arragonese  did  to  their  kings  :    "  If  not,  no." 

We  are  surprised  that  Hannibal  after  Thrasimene  did  not 
attempt  to  crush  the  other  consular  army.  On  the  banks  of  the 
Po    he    had    not    taken    the    fortresses    by    which    Rome    guarded 


ALTAR    OF    THE   TWELVE    GODS.' 


there  explained.  In  No.  3  are  seen :  ApoUo,  whom  one  would  take,  from  his  costume,  for  a 
goddess ;  Diana  with  her  bow ;  Vulcan  holding  his  pliers,  but  having  nothing  of  the  character 
which  tradition  assigns  him ;  Minerva  armed  with  a  lance.  In  No.  4,  Mars,  Venus,  Mercury, 
and  Vesta.  In  No.  5  are  the  three  Seasons,  Spring,  Summer,  and  Autumn,  recognizable  by  the 
flowering  branch,  by  the  vine-stock,  and  the  ear  of  corn  which  they  are  carrying ;  in  No.  (i  the 
Enmenides  have  the  sceptre  surmounted  by  the  pomegranate  flower,  the  symbol  of  their  power, 
and  the  left  hand  open  to  signify  that  they  are  always  ready  to  obey  Destiny.  M.  Frohner 
(Notice  de  la  Sculpture  antique  du  Musee  national  du  Louvre)  regards  this  tripod  base  as  a  rural 
calendar.     In  any  case  these  bass-reliefs  form  a  little  mythological  poem. 

1  Large  triangular  base  of  a  tripod,  called  the  Altar  of  the  Twelve  Gods,  in  the  Louvre 
Museum.  Above,  Jupiter  armed  with  the  thunderbolt  and  the  head  turned  towards  Juno ;  on 
the  left  of  Juno,  Neptune  or  the  ocean,  and  Ceres  or  the  earth  ;  below  the  three  Graces.  See 
the  other  faces  on  the  preceding  page. 


THE   SECOND   PUNIC   WAR   FROM   218   TO   210.  679 

Cisalpine  Gaul.  Satisfied  with  crushing  whatever  attempted  to 
stop  his  march  forwards,  he  showed  no  concern  for  what  he  left 
in  his  rear.  The  reason  is  that  he  was  in  haste  to  reach  South 
Italy,  in  the  midst  of  peoples  wdium  he  thought  disposed  to  join 
him,  near  Sicily,  which  he  hoped  to  urge  into  revolt,  not  far  from 
Greece,  Sixain,  and  Africa,  witli  which  lie  wished  to  secure  easy 
and  sure  communications.  Whilst  he  was  reaching  the  Adriatic, 
whence  he  despatched  a  vessel  to  Carthage  which  conveyed  the 
first  news  thither  of  his  astounding  succes-ses,  Sempronius  crossed  the 
Apennines  and  came  down  the  valley  of  the  Tiber  as  far  as  Ocricu- 
lum,  where  he  effected  a  junction  with  the  dictator's  army. 

Fabius,  at  the  head  of  four  legions,  went  in  search  of  Han- 
nibal, who  had  followed  the  Adriatic  coast  into  Apulia,  in  the 
hope  of  raising  revolt  in  Magna  Graecia  as  he  had  done  in  Cisalpine 
Gaul.  On  his  march  he  had  committed  frightful  ravages  without 
detaching  a  single  ally  from  Rome ;  for,  at  the  head  of  his  numerous 
Cisalpine  auxiliai'ies,  he  seemed  to.  be  really  at  the  head  of  one  of 
those  Gallic  invasions  so  feared  by  the  Italians.  The  savage  aspect 
of  his  Africans  frightened  the  inhabitants.  He  was  accused  of 
feeding  his  soldiers  on  human  flesh,^  and  he  was  regarded  as 
making  a  sacrilegious  war^  against  the  gods  of  Italy.  Except 
Tarentum,  too  humiliated  not  to  desire  the  abasement  of  Rome,  all 
the  Greeks  offered  up  vows  for  the  defeat  of  the  Carthaginians, 
their  old  enemies.  Those  of  Naples  and  Paestum  sent  gold  from 
their  temples  to  the  Senate,  who  accepted  only  a  very  small  part,  in 
order  that  the  public  treasure  might  seem  to  have  inexhaustible  re- 
sources, and  that  this  confidence  might  increase  the  fidelity  of  their 
allies.  Hiero,  sure  of  Rome's  good  fortune,  even  after  Thrasi- 
mene,  offered  a  gold  statue  of  Victory  of  320  lbs.  weight,  a 
thousand  archers  or  slingers,  three  hundred  thousand  bushels  of 
corn,  two  hundred  thousand  bushels  of  barley,  and  promised  to  send 

'  See  the  j)icture  that  Varro  paints  of  tliis  "  ferocious  and  savage  army,  which  makes 
bridges  and  ditc-hes  witli  lieaps  of  dead  bodies,  and  feeds  on  human  (lesh."  But  it  is  Livy 
(xxiii.  o)  wlio  tlius  sj)eaUs.  We  should  therefore  beUeve  that  he  gives  us  words  for  facts,  if 
'  Polybius  had  not  said  that  one  of  Hannibal's  generals  had  advised  him  to  habituate  his  soldiers 
to  this  kind  of  food  [which  does  not  make  it  the  least  more  credible].  We  know,  besides,  with 
what  cruelty  the  .\fricans  make  war.  Cf.  Horace,  Carm.  IH.  vi.  3G  :  Annihalemrjiie.  diruiii  ;  and 
Eprxl.  xvi.  8.  [The  story  is  worth  citing,  to  show  what  credulity  may  be  attributed  to  the 
historians  of  the  period.  —  A'rf.] 

'^  Vastata  Poenorum  tumullu  fana.  (Hor.,  Carm.  IV.  iv.  47.)  Cf.  Livy,  .\xviii.  46;  Cicero, 
de  Dwin.'  i.  24  ;  Polyb.,  iii.  33. 


680 


THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 


victuals  in  abundance  wherever  the  armies  should  have  need 
of  them.  Fabius  had  struck  out  a  new  plan  of  campaign  :  to 
cause   all,  both  men   and  jDrovisions,  to  be  housed   in  the  fortified 

places,  to  lay  waste 
the  level  country, 
and  refuse  everywhere 
to  fight,  but  follow 
the  enemy,  step  by 
step,  fall  upon  his 
foragers,  cut  off  his 
provisions,  harass  him 
ceaselessly,  destroy 
him  in  detail.  Han- 
nibal,— without  place 
of  retreat,  without 
allies,      money,     sure 


convoys,  and  with 
mercenaries  who, 
seeking  in  war  only 
for  pleasure  and  the 
booty  of  the  day  after 
victory,  are  always 
ready  to  cry  out : 
"Discharge  or 
battle!"^  —  could  not 
for  long  stand  against 
these  prudent  tactics 
of  Fabius  Maximus. 
Vainly  Hannibal  rav- 
aged under  his  eyes 
Daunia,  Samnium,  and  Campania ;  Fabius  followed  him  on  the 
mountains,  hidden  in  the  clouds  and  mists,  insensible  as  well  to 
the  insults  of  the  enemy  as  to  the  raillery  of  his  soldiers.^  One 
day,   however,  Hannibal,  deceived   by  his   guides,  became   involved 

1  Like  the  Swiss  mercenaries  in  the  Italian  wars  of  Louis  XII.  and  of  Francis  I. 

^  Statue  in  the  JNIuseum  of  the  Louvre,  called  the  Victory  of  Brescia. 

'  Cic,  de  Senecl.  iv.  1 7  (the  expression  is  from  Ennius)  :  Non  rumores  ponebat  ante 
salutem.  In  a  similar  spirit  Clisson  said  to  Charles  V.  when,  from  the  top  of  the  towers  of 
the  Louvre,  he  gazed  at  the  ravages  of  the  English :  "  All  this  fire  and  smoke  will  not  cause 
you  to  lose  your  heritage." 


y.'iii&w^ 


VICTOKY. 


THE    SECOND   TUNIC   WAR    FROM   218   TO   21G.  G81 

near  Casilinum,  at  the  bottom  of  a  valley  closed  by  impracticable 
marshes.  Fabius  seized  the  heights,  fell  on  the  rear-guard  of  the 
Carthaginians,  who  lost  eight  hundred  men,  and  held  the  only 
entrance  with  a  mnnerous  body  of  men.  Hannibal  was  caught. 
In  the  midst  of  the  night  he  drove  towards  the  heights  two 
thousand  oxen,  bearing  on  their  horns  burning  faggots  ;  and  the 
guard  of  the  defile,  thinking  that  the  enemy  was  fleeing  in  that 
direction,  left  their  post,  which  Hannibal  immediately  took  posses- 
sion of.  This  peril  was  past ;  but,  with  the  vigilance  of  the 
Roman  general,  it  might  retiirn.  Fortunately  for  Hannibal,  the 
Romans  were  indignant  at  what  they  called  a  shameful  timidity, 
and,  as  the  Carthagmians  intentionally  spared  the  lands  of  Fabius, 
there  were  suggestions  of  treason. 

In  vain  did  he  put  his  estate  up  for  sale  to  ransom  prisoners ; 
the  people,  carried  away  by  a  slight  success  which  the  cavalry 
general  gained  in  his  absence,  gave  Minucius  an  authority  equal 
to  that    of    the    pro-dictator.     Fabius    divided  the  army  with  him. 


and  Minucius,  being  too  weak,  was  beaten  at  the  first  encounter 
near  Larinum.  He  would  have  perished, 
had  not  Fabius  descended  from  the 
heights  to  save  him.  "  At  last  the  cloud 
which  covered  the  mountain  has  burst, 
then,"  said  Hannibal,  "  and  produced  rain 
and  storm.    "     Mmucms  came  of    his  own 

accord  to  place  himself  again  under  the  orders  of  his  old  leader, 
and  when  the  dictator  quitted  office  at  the  end  of  six  months, 
the  affahs  of  the  Republic  appeared  to  be  in  a  prosperous  con- 
dition. At  Rome  one  of  his  nephews  dedicated  a  temple  to  a 
new  divinity,  Intelligence  (mens),  and  Ennius  consecrated  his 
memory  by  the  famous  verse  which  Vergil  borrowed  from  him : 
"  Who,  alone,  by  delay  retrieved  our  state."  ^ 

For  a  moment  a  coalition  of  the  whole  West  had  been  dreaded. 
But   in  Spain  a  number  of   tribes  passed  over  to  the  side    of   the 

1  On  the  obverse,  veiled  head  of  Juno;  on  the  reverse,  LARINON,  V.  and  a  dolphin. 
The  two  oo's  are  the  mark  of  the  sextans.     Small  bronze  coin  of  Larinum. 

2  Nubcm  .  .  .  cum  procella  hnhrem  dedisse.     (Livy,  xxii.  30.) 

'  But  Vergil  does  not  repeat  the  second  versi;  (tmoted  on  last  page),  which  he  should 
also  have  transcribed  :  "  For  he  did  not  value  rumor  above  our  safety."  This  verse  is  more 
important  than  the  other,  for  it  marks  one  of  the  most  necessary  qualities  in  a  leader. 


682  THE   PUNIC   WARS   FROM   264   TO   201. 

Romans ;  in  Gallia  Cisalpina  the  Gauls,  satisfied  at  finding  them- 
selves free  again,  forgot  Hannibal  and  Carthage  itself,  which  only 
sent  a  few  vessels  to  commit  piracies  on  their  coast,  whence  the 
fleets  of  Sicily  and  Ostia  quickly  drove  them  away.  A  Roman 
squadron  which  was  returning  from  pursuing  them  as  far  as  Africa 
had  taken  the  Island  Cossura  (Pantellaria),  and  levied  on  Cercina 
a  heavy  war  contribution.  Everywhere,  except  in  front  of  Han- 
nibal, the  Romans  assumed  the  offensive  and  took  bold  measures. 
Otacilius,  the  praetor  of  Sicily,  had  orders  to  pass  over  into 
Africa ;  the  Scipios  received  succors ;  Postumius  Albinus  with  an 
army  kept  watch  over  the  Cisalpine  Gauls  ;  and  aml^assadors  had 
been  sent  to  Philip  of  Macedon  to  require  the  extradition  of  Deme- 
trius of  Pharos,  who  was  urging  him  to  war  ;  to  Pineus,  king  of 
Illyria,  to  claim  the  tribute  which  he  delayed  paying ;  and  to  the 
Ligurians,  to  demand  an  accomit  of  the  lielj)  furnished  by  them  to 
the  Carthaginians.^  There  is  something  grand  in  this  activity  of 
the  Senate,  paying  attention  to  the  most  distant  countries  in  the 
midst  of  a  formidalile  war  carried  on  at  the  very  gates  of  the  city, 
and  never  permitting  the  fortune  or  the  power  of  Rome  to  be 
doubted  for  an  instant.  This  Senate,  which  was  so  proud  towards 
the  foreigner,  showed  a  conciliating  temper  with  the  people ;  it 
reminded  all  of  the  necessity  of  mutual  confidence  by  raising 
a  new  temple  to  Concord,  and  placed  it  within  the  bounds 
of  the  citadel,^  in  order  that  eveiy  one  should  understand  that 
the  strength  of  Rome  depended  on  the  spirit  inspired  by  this 
divinity. 

The  consuls  who  commanded  the  army  in  the  last  months  of 
217,  after  the  abdication  of  Fabius,  followed  the  dictator's  tactics ; 
and  this  wise  delay  would  doubtless  have  ruined  Hannibal.  But 
could  the  rulers  of  Italy,  vmder  the  eyes  of  their  allies  and  with 
superior  forces,  always  decline  battle  ?  Sempronius  and  Varro 
are  condemned  after  the  event.  The  defeats  of  Trebia  and 
Cannae  weigh  upon  their  memory.  Yet  the  people,  the  army, 
and  perhaps  the  true  policy^  demanded  a  battle.  The  Senate 
itself    decided   upon  it.     But    there    was    needed   an   able   and   ex- 

'  Livy,  xxii.  33.  ^  In  arce.     (Livy,  xxii.  33.) 

3  Before  Cannae  the  leaders  of  the  army  write  to  the  Senate :  tSiv  (Tvniiax<^v  Travruv 
^€Tfco/jci)f  oin-iov  ToLS  diavotats.     (Polyb.,  iii.  107.) 


THE    SECOJSD   FUNIC    WAR   FROM  218   TO   216. 


683 


perienced  leadei- ;  and  though  the  nobility  managed  to  obtain  the 
election  of  Paulus  Aoniilius,  a  pupil  of  Fabius,  who  had  already 
distinguished  himself  in  the  Illyrian  wars,  the  popular  party  gave 
him  as  colleague  its  leader,  Terentius  Varro,  the  son  of  a  butcher, 
who  had  never  seen  a  battle.^      Union  was  necessary  between  the 


KvmL 


RUINS    OF    CANXAE.- 

leaders,  and  Paulus  Aemilius  and  Varro,  who  were  political  gnemies,^ 
continued  their  quarrels  in  the  army,  the  one  alwaj^s  wishing  to 
fight,  the  other  to  delay.  As  the  command  alternated  every  day 
between  the  two  consuls,  Varro  led  the  army  so  near  the  enemy 
that  retreat  was  impossible  ;  and  on  the  next  day  but  one,  in  the 
morning  he  had  the  purple  mantle,   the   signal  for  the  fight,   dis- 

1  [Nevertheless,  Livy  tells  us  liis  father  had  made  money,  and  the  consul  had  reached  his 
consiJate  through  the  regular  promotion,  having  been  quaestor,  aedile,  an<]  praetor,  without 
displaying  any  incompetence.  —  Ed.] 

^  The  arch,  of  which  the  remains  are  seen,  is  wrongly  called  the  Arch  of  Varro. 

"  I  pass  over  in  silence  the  declamations  of  Varro  and  Ilercnnius  on  the  treason  of  the 
nobles,  who  were  anxious  to  spin  out  the  war.  At  this  period  the  reproach  is  absurd ;  twenty 
vears  later  it  is  true. 


684  THE   PUJSriC   WAllS   FROM   264   TO   201. 

played  before  his  tent.  He  had  eighty  thousand  infantry,^  and, 
notwithstanding  the  remembrance  of  the  three  battles  already  lost, 
only  six  thousand  horse.  In  an  army  of  fifty  thousand  men,  Han- 
nibal had  ten  thousand.'^  His  forces  were  only  half  those  of  the 
consuls ;  but  he  had  led  them  to  a  battle-field  of  his  own  choosing, 
at  Cannae  in  Apulia,  near  the  Aufidus,  in  the  middle  of  an  im- 
mense plain,  which  was  favorable  to  his  cavalry,  and  in  a  position 
where  the  sun,  shming  in  the  faces  of  the  Romans,  and  the  wind, 
carrying  the  dust  against  their  line,  fought  for  him. 

In  this  level  plain  an  ambuscade  appeared  impossible.  But 
five  hundred  Numidians  presented  themselves  as  deserters,  and 
during  the  action  they  fell  upon  the  rear  of  the  Roman  army.  At 
Cannae,  as  at  Thrasimene  and  at  Trelaia,  the  smaller  number  sur-- 
rounded  the  greater.  In  order  to  offer  more  resistance  to  the 
cavalry,  Varro  had  diminished  the  extent  of  his  line  and  increased 
its  depth.  By  this  arrangement  many  soldiers  became  useless. 
Hannibal,  on  the  contrary,  gave  his  army  a  front  equal  to  that  of 
the  enemy,  and  drew  it  up  in  a  crescent,  so  that  the  centre,  com- 
posed of  Gaids,  projected  from  his  line  of  battle.  Behind  them 
the  African  veterans  were  drawn  up  along  the  curve,  the  two 
extremities  of  which  extended  to  the  cavalry  on  the  two  wings. 
Whilst  the  Romans  attacked  the  Gauls  with  fury,  and  the  latter, 
led  by  Hannibal  himself,  were  slowly  falling  back  upon  the 
second  line,  Hasdrubal,^  with  his  Gaulish  and  Spanish  horsemen 
drawn  up  in  deep  masses,  crushed  the  legionary  cavalry  on  the 
left,  and  Mago  with  his  Numidians  routed  the  allies  on  the 
right.  Leaving  the  Numidians  to  pursue  and  slay  those  who 
had  not  fallen  at  the  first  shock,  Hasdrubal  attacked  in  the 
rear   the    Roman   infantry,  which   the   Africans,    by   the    backward 


1  Ten  thousand  were  left  in  the  two  consular  camps. 

2  Livy  jnirposely  exaggerates  the  critical  position  of  Hannibal  before  the  battle.  He  had, 
says  he,  only  ten  da}s'  provisions.  The  Spaniards,  threatened  with  famine,  were  ready  to 
betray  him,  and  Hannibal  was  already  thinking  how  to  reach  Gaul.  There  is  nothing  of  all 
this  in  Polybius  (iii.  107),  who  speaks  of  him  as  making  immense  magazines  at  Geronium,  of 
which  he  had  gained  possession,  and  as  having  taken,  a  few  days  before  the  battle,  the  castle 
of  Cannae,  in  which  the  Romans  had  their  supplies  of  provisions,  arms,  and  engines.  It  was 
the  cai)ture  of  Cannae,  indeed,  which  decided  the  Senate  to  allow  a  battle.     Moreover,  with 

'his  cavalry  Hannibal  would  always  have  found  provisions. 

8  [Not  Hannibal's  brother,  who  still  remained  in  Spain,  but  an  officer  of  great  abihty  who 
at  this  time  had  the  chief  direction  of  military  works.] 


THE  SECOND  PUNIC   WAR   FROM  218  TO  216.  685 

movement  of  the  Gauls,  had  already  taken  in  flank.  The  eighty 
thousand  Romans,  shut  in  on  all  sides,  soon  formed  only  a 
confused  mass,  on  which  every  blow  told,  and  which  could 
give  few  in  return.^  By  the  account  of  Polybius,  seventy-two 
thousand  Romans  and  allies,  with  one  of  the  consuls,  Paulus 
Aemilius,  who  had  refused  to  fly,  two  quaestors,  eighty  senators, 
some  ex-consuls,  among  them  Minucius,  and  one  of  the  consuls 
of  the  preceding  year,  twenty-one  legionar}^  tribunes,  and  finally  a 
whole  crowd  of  knights,  were  left  on  the  field  of  battle  (Aug. 
2,  216).  The  Roman  nobility  liberally  paid  their  debt  of  blood 
to  their  countiy.  Hannibal  had  not  lost  six  thousand  men,  of 
whom  four  thousand  were  Gauls.  This  nation  was  the  instru- 
ment of  all  his  victories.^  A  prediction  of  this  great  defeat  was 
afterward  attributed  to  a  famous  diviner,  Marcius,  who  lived 
before  the  Second  Punic  War.  "  Roman,  son  of  Troy,  avoid  the 
River  Canna ;  beware  lest  strangers  force  thee  to  join  battle  in 
the  field  of  Diomede.  But  thou  wilt  not  believe  me  till  thou 
hast  filled  the  country  with  thy  blood ;  till  thy  citizens  have 
fallen  by  thousands,  and  the  river  bearing  them  far  from  the 
fruitful  land  has  given  them  up  for  food  for  the  fowls  of  the  air, 
for  the  wild  beasts  on  its  banks  and  the  fishes  of  the  vast  sea. 
Thus  has  Jupiter  spoken  to  me." 

This  prophecy,  more  precise  than  those  which  precede  the 
event,  satisfied  the  national  pride,  and  at  the  same  time  served 
the  policy  of  the  Senate,  whose  interest  it  was  that  men  should 
believe  in  oracles.  Rome  was  willing  to  see  in  her  defeat  not 
a  failing  in  courage,  but  a  decree  of  destiny ;  she  attributed 
the  victory  to  the  gods  much  more  than  to  Hannibal,  and  she 
strengthened  a  precious  instrument  of  government,  faith  in  divina- 
tion, by  leading  men  to  think  that  the  diviner  had  foreseen  the 
future. 

1  These  are  the  figures  given  by  Polyl)ii'.s.  T^ivy  only  says  48,200  dead,  and  24,900 
prisoners.  He  raises  to  8,000  the  number  of  Hannibal's  dead,  which  Polybius  reduces  to 
5,700.  [This  victory,  like  most  others  won  in  a  fair  field  against  superior  numbers,  was  won 
by  making  the  enemy  "  jam  "  himself,  —  a  fatal  mistake.  As  soon  as  troops,  however  good, 
get  so  crowded  as  to  have  no  room  for  their  evolutions,  they  become  a  mere  helpless  mass. 
To  make  an  enemy  far  superior  in  numbers  thus  paralyze  his  forces  is  the  art.  of  a  consummate 
tactician.  —  Ed.] 

*  [Though  the  Gauls  often  bore  the  brunt  of  the  battles,  and  incurred  most  loss,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  Sjianish  infantry  and  the  African  veterans  were  the  flower  of  the  army.  —  Ed.'] 


(386  THE   PUNIC    WAES    FROM   264   TO   201. 

The  battle  of  Cannae  deprived  the  Romans  of  more  strength 
than  it  gave  Hannibal.  Some  tribes  of  Campania  and  Magna 
Graecia  declared  for  him,  but  on  condition  of  according  him  fewer 
men  and  smaller  subsidies  than  they  had  furnished  to  Rome  ;  ^  and 
Carthage,  which  looked  upon  this  bold  expedition  only  as  a  useful 
diversion,  left  him  to  his  own  resources.^  Enfeebled  even  by  his 
victories,  he  would  be  obliged  to  divide  his  forces  if  he  would  pro- 
tect the  towns  which  had  just  yielded  themselves  to  him.  He 
would  thus  have  an  army  too  weak  to  renew  the  strife  of  Thrasimene 
and  Cannae.  Moreover,  the  consuls,  rendered  prudent  by  experi- 
ence, would  place  the  safety  of  the  Repul^lic  in  following  Fabius' 
system.  Strange  to  say,  war  on  a  large  scale  is  ended  in  Italy 
after  the  battle  of  Cannae.  Henceforth  there  is  nothing  but  sieges 
of  towns,  stratagems,  many  attacks  and  combats  without  results. 
In  this  war  of  strategy  Hannibal  shows  himself  the  ablest  leader 
of  ancient  times.  But  the  contest  has  no  longer  more  than  a 
secondary  interest,  except  for  the  grandeur  of  the  spectacle  pre- 
sented by  this  man,  abandoned  l)y  his  own  country,  in  the  midst  of 
a  hostile  people,  face  to  face  with  the  bravest  and  best-organized 
nation  then  in  existence,  and  who,  nevertheless,  was  able  for  thirteen 
years  to  master  the  insubordination  of  his  mercenaries,  to  keep  alive 
the  precarious  fidelity  of  his  allies,  to  furnish  occupation  for  Rome's 
best  troops ;  besides  all  this,  to  stir  up  the  world  with  his  negotia- 
tions, to  excite  revolt  in  Syracuse,  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  to  call  his 
brother  from  Spain,  and  Philip  from  Macedon,  to  join  him  in  Italy, 
that  he  might  crush  Rome  with  the  united  weight  of  Africa  and 
Europe  hurled  upon  her.^ 

'  .  .  .  neve  civis  Cmnpanus  invitwi  jnilitaret  munusve  faceret.  (Treaty  of  Capua  witli  Han- 
nibal, Livy,  xxiii.  7.)  .  .  .  iiriri  (popovs  wpd^fcrdai.  Kara  iMTjSeva  Tpoirov,  fiijTC  t'lKKo  p-rfhiv  f'm- 
Ta^eiv  Tapavrlvois  Kapx^r)8ovtovs.     (Treaty  of  Hannibal  with  Tarentum,  Polybius,  viii.  29.) 

2  He  received  only  ten  tliousand  men  from  it  during  the  whole  war. 

^  "  If  I  were  asked,"  says  Polybius,  "  who  was  the  soul  of  this  war,  I  shoidd  say  Hannibal." 
(i-x.  fr.  7.)  Here  we  luifortuuately  lose  tliis  conscientious  historian.  After  the  battle  of 
Cannae  there  only  remain  fr,agments  of  him. 


END    OF    VOL.    I. 


